C. J. R. LE MESURIER v. Hon. Mr. C. P. LAYARD, Attorney-General of Ceylon.

C. J. R. LE MESURIER v. Hon. Mr. C. P. LAYARD,

Attorney-General of Ceylon.

D. C, Colombo, C 9,983.

 

Action against the Attorney-General as representing the Government of Ceylon-Wrongful act of the Government of Ceylon-Difference between " the Crown " and " the Government of Ceylon "-Prerogative Law-Roman-Dutch Law-Civil Procedure Code, ss. 456, 458.

An action against the Attorney-General of Ceylon, as representing the Government of Ceylon, for alleged wrongful act on its part, should be treated as an action brought against the Attorney-General as representing the Crown, in accordance with section 456 of the Civil Procedure Code.

Bonser, C.J.-The Royal Proclamation issued in 1799, after the Dutch settlement in the Island was ceded to the British Crown, established the Roman-Dutch Law as the Common Law of the ceded territory, and thenceforth the relations as well as between the Government and the subject as between subject and subject must be governed by that law.

The Attorney-General of Ceylon is the lineal successor of the Advocate Fiscal of olden time, and just as in those days

Click Here to Read the rest of this document