55 



52. The last mail papers from Ceylon publish the draft of 

 a new law to be passed forthwith, constituting a Special Tribunal 

 for " the trial of certain persons, now detained under Martial 

 Law, who are not charged with acts of violence or direct incite- 

 ment to, or complicity with, acts of violence." Presumably the 

 " persons " here indicated are the gentlemen who were com- 

 mitted to prison in June last and are still in confinement with- 

 out a charge and without a trial. The provisions of the new 

 Act, it will be seen, are not specific, and are given a retrospec- 

 tive effect. 



Extract from 

 " The Ceylon Morning Leader /' July ibth, 1915. 



Provision of a Special Tribunal for Cases of Sedition 

 and Cases of Public Disorder. 



The following Draft of a proposed Ordinance was published 

 on Saturday as a " Government Gazette " Extraordinary : 



An Ordinance to Amend "The Criminal Procedure Code, 



1898." 



Whereas it is expedient to amend " The Criminal Procedure 

 Code, 180,8 " : Be it therefore enacted by the Governor of Ceylon, 

 by and with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, as 

 follows : 



1. This Ordinance may be cited as " The Criminal Proce- 

 dure Code (Amendment) Ordinance No. of 1915." 



2. The following section shall be added to the Criminal 

 Procedure Code, 1898 : 



44oA (i). In the following cases, that is to say (a) 

 in the case of any offence under section 120 of the Penal 

 Code (hereinafter referred to as " sedition "), (b) in the 

 case of any other offence which by reason of civil commo- 

 tion, disturbance of public feeling, or any other similar 

 cause, the Governor may consider to be appropriately 

 triable in the manner in this section provided, the Governor 

 may by warrant under his hand direct that the person 

 charged shall be tried at Bar without a jury by three 

 Judges of the Supreme Court. 



(2) A trial under this section may be held either upon 

 indictment or upon information exhibited by the Attorney- 

 General, and the limitations of Section 385 shall not apply 

 to an information so exhibited. 



(3) A trial under this section shall proceed as nearly 

 as possible in the manner provided for trials before the 

 Supreme Court, subject to such modifications as may be 

 ordered by the Court, or as may be prescribed by Rules 

 under this Code. 



(4) A person directed to be tried under this section 

 shall not be admitted to bail without the consent of the 

 Attorney-General. 



