not exceeding six months; and the arms or other such instrument as aforesaid shall be confiscated. IX. It shall be lawful for a magistrate, by warrant, to cause search to be made in any house or other place in which there may be reasonable grounds for suspecting that any arms or other such instrument as aforesaid, kept contrary to the proclamation, may be found; and any such arms or instrument may be seized and confiscated. X, Nothing in Sections VII, VIII, and IX of this Act shall extend to any person who may be exempted by the authority of the Executive Government from the prohibition contained in such proclamation. XI. The word "magistrate" in this Act shall include any person lawfully exercising the powers of a magistrate, and any assistant to a magistrate or deputy magistrate, specially authorized by the Executive Government to exercise the powers vested in a magistrate by this Act. Preamble. Adjudication of forfeiture in case of A. D. 1857. ACT XXV. AN ACT to render Officers and Soldiers in the Native Army liable to forfeiture of property for Mutiny, and to provide for the adjudication and recovery of forfeitures of property in certain cases. Passed on the 8th August 1857. WHEREAS it is expedient to rende r officers and soldiers in the Native Army, who shall be convicted of mutiny, subject to the forfeiture of all their property, and to provide for the adjudication and recovery of forfeitures in certain cases; it is enacted as follows: I. Repealed by Act V. of 1859. II. If any person who shall have committed treason or death or escape of any offence for which, by this Act, or Act XI. of 1857, or Act offender before con- XIV. of 1857, Act XVI. of 1857, his property is declared to be forfeited, shall have been killed, or shall have died, or shall have escaped out of the territories of the East India Company, before he shall have been convicted of the offence, or cannot after diligent search be found, any court or other authority which might have tried such offender if he could have been brought to trial, shall, upon the application of the magistrate or other officer authorized by Government to make such application, hold an enquiry; and on proof that the person charged with having committed the offence was guilty thereof, and that he is dead, or has escaped out of the territories of the East India Company, or cannot after diligent search be found, shall adjudge that all the property of such offender shall be forfeited to Government. viction of an offence for which property is liable to be forfeited. Forfeiture to extend to all property possessed by the offen. der at the time of the commission of the offence. III. The forfeiture, whether upon conviction of such an offence as aforesaid, or upon an adjudication of forfeiture under this Act, shall extend to all property and effects of or to which the offender shall have been possessed or entitled, either at the time of committing the offence, or at the time of the conviction or of the adjudication of forfeiture, or at any intermediate time; and no sale, alienation, or other disposition of such property, made subsequently to the commission of the offence, or made at any time with the fraudulent intention of preventing a forfeiture, shall have any effect against the right of Government to the forfeiture. Provided that nothing in this section contained shall affect Proviso. any transferree of any negotiable security, who shall prove that he acquired the same in good faith and with due caution for valuable consideration. of land when an alienation has been made without a valuable consideration. IV. All immovable property of the offender, which shall Forfeiture be alienated after the passing of this Act and before the commission of any offence specified in Section II, shall be forfeited in the same manner as if no such alienation had been made, unless the alienation be made in good faith and for valuable consideration, or unless the same shall haye been made and registered more than three months before the commission of the offence. Alienation made and registered three months before commission of offence. offence committed. V. The court, or other authority by which the offender Court to find date of shall be convicted or the forfeiture shall be adjudged, may specify in the conviction or adjudication the day on which the offence was committed, if it can be ascertained. Conviction or adjudi of what matters. VI. In any proceeding concerning property alleged to cation to be proof have been forfeited, the conviction shall be conclusive evidence that the offence was committed, and (if the day be specified in such conviction) that the offence was committed on that day; if the day be not specified, the conviction. shall be prima facie evidence that the offence was committed on the day mentioned in the charge. In any such proceeding, an adjudication of forfeiture under this Act shall be prima facie evidence of the commission of the offence, and (if the day be specified in the adjudication) that the offence was committed on that day; if the day be not specified, the adjudication shall be prima facie evidence that the offence was committed on the day mentioned in the charge. Any adjudication under this Act shall be filed with and may be proved in the same manner as the records of the principal court of criminal jurisdiction of the district. Procedure for the recovery of forfeited. property. Restoration offorfeited property upon proof VII. After the conviction or adjudication, the collector or other chief officer appointed by Government for the collection of revenue, or any other officer whom the Government may specially appoint, may seize and take possession of the forfeited property if he require the assistance of a court to enable him to obtain possession of any such property by reason of any dispute respecting the title. to the same, or for any other cause, the principal civil court of original jurisdiction of the district in which the property is situate may, upon the production of a certified copy of the conviction or adjudication, hear and determine in a summary manner upon petition any matter in dispute relating to such property. Any order which may be passed by the court shall not be subject to appeal; but the party against whom the same may be given, by any court other than one of Her Majesty's Supreme Courts of Judicature, shall be at liberty to bring a suit to establish his right at any time within one year from the date of the order. VIII. In case any person whose property shall have that escape was not been so adjudged to be forfeited, shall within one year after for the purpose of the seizure of any part of his property as a forfeiture, evading justice. surrender himself, and shall upon trial before a competent court be acquitted of the offence, his property or the proceeds thereof shall be restored, upon proof, to the satisfaction of the court, that he did not escape or keep out of the way for the purpose of evading justice. IX. Repealed by Act IX. of 1871. perty before forfeiture in certain cases. X. In case it shall appear to a magistrate that there is Power to secure proreasonable ground to suppose that any person is guilty of any offence specified in Section II. of this Act, and that any property liable to forfeiture for the offence is likely to be made away with, it shall be lawful for the magistrate to attach such property and secure the same until the trial of the offender, until an enquiry for the purpose of adjudication under this Act shall be had. XI. The word "magistrate" in this Act shall include Interpretations. any officer competent to commit for trial for any offence specified in Section II. of this Act. A. D. 1858. ACT III. AN ACT to amend the Law relating to the Arrest and Detention of State Prisoners. Passed on the 23rd January 1858. WHEREAS doubts have been entertained whether state Preamble. I. Repealed by Act XIV. of 1870. II. The provisions of Regulation III. 1818 of the Bengal Regulations relating Code, and Regulation II. 1819 of the Madras Code, and Regulation XXV. 1827 of the Bombay Code, as altered by Section I. of this Act, relating to the arrest and confinement the to the arrest and in Supreme Court of persons as state prisoners, shall be in force within the jurisdiction. local limits of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Courts of Judicature at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay respectively. Powers for the better custody of state prisoners, 1850 in the Gover III. All powers for the better custody of state prisoners vested which by virtue of Act XXXIV of 1850 are vested in the by Act XXXIV of Governor General in Council, shall be possessed and may be exercised by the Governor in Council of Fort St. George and the Governor in Council of Bombay respectively for the better custody of state prisoners arrested within their respective presidencies. norGeneralin Council, may be exercised by the Governors in Council of Fort St. George and Bombay respectively. Arrest made prior to the passing of this Act legalized. Removal of state pri soners place of confinement to another. Preamble.. IV. Any person arrested as a state prisoner before the passing of this Act, or now confined as a state prisoner by the order or under the warrant of the Governor General in Council, or of the Governor in Council of Fort St. George, or of the Governor in Council of Bombay respectively, shall be deemed to have been lawfully arrested and to be lawfully confined. V. The Governor General in Council may order the refrom one moval of any state prisoner confined under the provisions of any of the said regulations as amended and extended by this Act from any fortress, jail, or place in which he may be confined within either of the said presidencies, to any other fortress, jail, or place of confinement within the territories in the possession and under the Government of the East India Company. A. D. 1858. ACT XXVIII.* AN ACT for the maintenance of a Police Force for the Port of Madras. Passed on the 31st July 1858. WHEREAS it is expedient to make further provision for the security of the traffic between the shore and the shipping in the port of Madras, by increasing the police force; and whereas it is just and expedient that the said traffic should contribute towards the expenses and maintenance of the said force; it is enacted as follows: This Act came into operation from the 1st October 1858. (Vide Notification in Gazette of 1858, Vol. II., p. 581.) |