The Chief Justice.-The appellants in the above appeals were accused 1 to 4. in Case 10 of 1948 at the first Criminal Sessions of this Court in the year 1948. All the four appellants were found guilty by a majority of the jury of the offence of conspiracy to murder the late Dr. Habibulla. The appellants in Criminal Appeal No.183 of 1948 were found also guilty of murdering him, while the appellants in Criminal Appeals Nos.169 and 182 of 1948 were found guilty of abetting the murder. The majority verdicts of the jury were accepted by Bell, J. who tried the case, and they were sentenced to death. The appeals were preferred under section 411-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure which had been added to the Code by Act XXVI of 1943, with the leave of the appellate Court on matters of law and fact. The appeals came up for hearing before Horwill and Govinda Menon, JJ. The learned Public Prosecutor raised a preliminary objection that the appeals were not maintainable because Act XXVI of 1943 was invalid as being ultra vires of the Central Legislature, which had enacted it. As the learned Judges felt that it was desirable that the preliminary objection should be considered by a Full Be