Benson, J.

1. In this case fourteen persons were tried by a Special Bench of this Court, constituted under Section 6(b) of the Indian Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908, for an offence punishable under Section 121A, Indian Penal Code (conspiring to commit certain offences against the State), and also with abetting the murder of Mr. Ashe. The Special Bench acquitted all the accused on the latter charge. The majority of the Court (Sir Arnold White, C.J., and Ayling, J.) convicted the first seven and the fourteenth accused of the offence charged under Section 121-A and acquitted the remainder. The third Judge of the Special Bench (Sankaran-Nair, J.) convicted the first, second, sixth and fourteenth accused and acquitted the remainder. The late Advocate-General has given a certificate under Clause 26 of the Amended Letters Patent of 1865 to the effect that the decision of the Court on certain specified points of law requires farther consideration. The present Advocate-General, who, as Public Prosecutor, appeared for the Crown at the trial, raises a preliminary objection that the Letters Patent do not authorize the grant of a certificate in a case tried by a Special Bench, appointe