cHap. 11] LIMITATION OF LEGISLATION 373
beyond this limit, but not over other persons.” In an
opinion given by the Queen’s Advocate in August 1854, on
the question within what distance of the Falkland Islands
foreigners might be legally prevented from whale or seal
fishing, he advised that they could be prevented from fishing
within three miles of the coast, such being the distance to
which, according to the marine interpretation and usage of
nations, a cannon-shot is supposed to reach.
The view of the law officers is shown to have been shared
by the Government in many Acts; for example, it was con-
sidered necessary to resort to Parliament to make arrange-
ments for the hearing of appeals in the West Indies by the
Courts of a distant Colony. This was done in the case of
making provisions for appeals from British Honduras to lie
to the Courts of Jamaica, by the Act 44 & 45 Vict. c. 36,
and with regard to appeals in the Windwards by 52 & 53
Viet. c. 33.
Similarly it is due to the territorial limitation of Colonial
jurisdiction that Acts have been passed from time to time
to provide for the extradition of offenders, including their
legal custody while beyond the limits of the Colony from
which they are extradited, and for the custody of fugitive
offenders during removal from one part of the Empire to
another! Again, by the Act 6 Will. IV. c. 17, it is laid
down that whereas by reason of the separation of the Govern-
ments of the said islands it was not possible to arrange for
the erection of two Courts of Judicature in the West Indian
Islands, therefore Imperial legislation had to be passed.
In the Canadian prisoner’s case, Lord Durham had, with
his nominee Council in Lower Canada, which was a special
body established by Act of the Imperial Parliament in view
of the recent rebellion and the necessity for suspending
the constitution, decided that certain political offenders
should be banished to Bermuda. It was then advised by
the law officers of the Crown that the ordinance for effecting
! Fugitive Offenders Act, 1881 (44 & 45 Vict. c. 69) ; Colonial Prisoners
Removal Acts, 1869 and 1884 (32 Vict. c. 10 and 47 & 48 Vict. ¢. 31); Hatra-
dition Acts, 1870 and 1873 (33 & 34 Vict. ¢. 62, 36 & 37 Vict. ¢, 60).
