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sion, several items of the examina- 
tion taken on the island, for the pur- 
pose of this cause, were read by the 
clerk of the court. The next tes- 
timony adduced was that of Mr. 
Glocester, the attorney-general of 
his majesty in the island, who de- 
posed to the authenticity of several 
books on the laws of the island, 
among which were the rizondo, the 
Curia Philippica, the Bobadilla, the 
Colom, and the Recopilacion de 
Leyes. 
Various.passages in these books 
were then referred to, and translated, 
for the purpose of shewing that tor- 
ture was not only permitted in cers 
tain cases, but in the particular in- 
stance hefore the jury. 
On the part of the prosecution, 
dou Pedro de Vargas was then 
called to contradiét these authorities. 
He said that he had studied the law 
of the West India Islands under the 
dominion of Spain seven years, and 
that he had practised it two years. 
In the course of his enquiries and 
experience, he had never known any 
book of authority cited to justify 
the application of torture; it was 
true, ‘an ancient edict, as early as 
the year 1260, mentioning torture, 
had been referred to by some learn- 
ed persons in colonial law, but this 
authority had long been considered 
obsolete and nugatory, so that no- 
thing now remained either to sup- 
port the principle or the practice. 
After the cross-examination of this 
witness, 
Lord Ellenborough.—‘* The sin- 
gle question for your consideration 
is, whether, by the Spanish laws 
observed in Trinidad, the defendant 
was justified in inflicting torture 
upon the prosecutrix? I would ad- 
vise you by all means to divest your- 
selves of every thing that may in- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
flame your minds, so that you may 
give impartial attention to the pre- 
sent case. he inquiry for you to 
make is, what was the subsisting 
Jaw by which Trinidad, at the time 
it was taken by sir Ralph Aber- 
crombie, was governed? The va- 
rious authorities upon the subject of 
the distribution of justice in Spanish 
courts do not mention the infliction 
of torture, and therefore the right of 
applying it, if it can be applied at 
all, must depend upon authorities 
before us, or upon the jurisdiction 
of the judge. Weare not madeac- 
quainted at what time Trinidad was 
annexed to the Spanish colonial 
possessions, or what code of laws 
were then instituted. Depositions 
of witnesses have been read, who 
have known the island for 32 years, 
and one of them was born there, and 
swears torture was never adminis- 
tered. Mr. Nugent also says, he 
knew Trinidad for twenty years, 
and never saw the torture inflicted, 
or had ever secn the instruments, 
and therefore it is absolutely with- 
out any proof to support it. Mr. 
Glocester speaks to books of autho- 
rity, which he stated to be in use 
when he was in the island; but the 
existence and reference to them can 
certainly not extend beyond the pe- 
riod when he himself was acquainted 
with them.’’ His lordship having 
made some farther observations, 
respecting the different authorities 
produced, concluded as follows :— 
‘6 The question, then, resolves it- 
self to this, viz. whether in the ab- 
sence of usave for 32 years, you 
will infer that the Jaw of Old Spain 
so necessarily involved that of Tri- 
nidad, as to induce you to believe, 
that as the practice of torture is 
allowed by the one, it is also by the 
other. If youare of opinion that it 
does, 
