Magistrates Act 1840 (SA)

ANNO QUARTO

VICTORIB REGIN&.

No. 1.

AN ACT authorisilzq a d d e c l t z h y the power of the Maqistrates of

Port Li~acoZn nn'd othw districts t o conmit Prisoners io the Gaol

of Adelaide.

HEREAS by an Act of the Governor it1 Council, passed iu the

W firat year of Her present Majesty, Nu. 2, for establishing Courts of Resiclcnt Magistrates it is Enacted, that it shall be lawful

for the Governor, by Proclamation, from time to timc, to dcfiue by proper boundaries certain parts of the Province, and to create and constitute the samc into Districts of the said Pro~ince, and to estab- lish in each of such Districts a Court, to be called the Court of the

Province, except at Adelaide, it has been and is necessary, that offenders convicted, and persons committed for trial for crimes, inis- demeanors

Resident Magistrate of the particular Dist~ict .

And whereas in pursuance of the said Act, His Excellency the Governor was pleased, by Proclamation, datecl the 2nd day of October, 1839, to proclaim a certain part of the Province therein described a District, within the mraniiy of tlie Act, to be called the District of Port Lincoln, ancl the rci~lainde' of the Province therein described, a District, to be called the District of Adelaide. And whereas the Governor was fnrther pleased to appoint a Resident Magistrate, and Justices of the Pence, for the said District of Port Lincoln. And it will be necessary, from time to timc, according to the altered circumstances of the Province, to create ncw and addi- tional Districts, and to appoint Resident Mngistmtcs a i d Justices of

the Peace, to act in and for such Districts.

And whereas no gaol, honsr of correction, or proper place of

security for the custody of prisonrrs having been yet built within the

demeanora, and offences, ahauld be lrent from any part of the Province to the gaol at Adelaide for imprisonment, in pursuance of their sentences, or for secure custody, till trial, and doubts having arisen which it is expe@ent to remove, regarding the legality of some of such commitments,

Be it therefore Enactetl by His Excellency Lieutenant-Colonel Cieorge Gamler, Knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of South Australia, by and with the advice and consent o f the Legislative Council thereof, as follows--

That it shall and may be lawful for the Resident Magistrate, or anp Justice or Justices of the Peace, acting in and for the District of Port Lincoln, or any other District to be hereafter created by autho- rity of the aforesaid Act, to commit any person duly and legally convicted before them, or any of them, to the gaol of Adelaide, which person so committed shall and may be received, detained, dealt with and ordered, and be set and kept to hard labor, and be subject and liable to the same correction and punishment in pursuance of the

sentence lawfully passed upon him, as if such person had been com-

mitted to the proper gaol of the District of the said committing

Magistrates.

11. That in like manner the said Resident Magistrate and Justices

acting in and for the District of Port Lincoln, or any other District as aforesaid, shall have full power to commit any person duly charged before them, or any of them, with any felony or grave misdemeanor, to the gaol of Adelaide, to be tried at the next Court of General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace, or Sessions of Oyer and Terminer, or General Gaol Delivery of the Supremecourt, and to bind over parties and witnesses to prosecute and give evidence, and return the recog- nizancea and depositions to the Clerk of Assize or other proper ofilcer, and to take order for the due conveyance of such parties and

witnesses to attend the aforesaid trials.

111. That all commitments for safe custody, or in execution, here- tofore made by the said Magistrates of the District of Port Lincoln, to the gaol of Adelaide, in conformity with the above provisions, shall be held and deemed to be legally warranted, in the same manner and as fully as if the same had been made after the passing of this Act, and no action or suit shall be maintainable against the said Magistratm, for or in respect of such cornmitmenta being made to a gaol beyond the bounds of their jurisdiction,

GEORGE GAWLER,

Governor of South Australia.

Panrsed in Council this 23rd day of June, 1840.

GEORGE HALL, Clerk of Council.

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4deWe : Printed ty authority, bp W, C, Cox, Government Prinfsr, North-terraoe,