Judgement

Appeal from a judgment of a full bench of the High Court (March 26, 1877).

The Respondent Burah and one Book Singh since deceased, were tried by the Deputy-Commissioner of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, in the East Indies, on a charge of murder of one Kana Lalung, committed near Yeothymmai, in the territory known and defined as the Jaintia and Khasi Hills, and sentenced to the punishment of death, but the sentence was afterwards, on the 23rd of April, 1876, commuted by the Chief Commissioner of Assam to transportation for life.

On the 9th of July, 1876, the officer in charge of the Kamroop Jail, where the said Burah and Book Singh were in confinement as prisoners under the said last-mentioned sentence, forwarded to the High Court at Calcutta petitions of appeal from them, dated the 9th of July, 1876, against the sentence.

The High Court having doubts whether they had jurisdiction over the prisoners referred the question of their power to entertain the petitions to a Full Bench of the said Court.

The question was argued before a Full Bench on two occasions, and the majority of the High Court, on the 26th of March, 1877, decided that the said Court had such jurisdiction, and