38¢ PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINIONS [PART 111 
administering the criminal law in that respect, they thought 
that this construction of the statute received support from 
the arrangements made in the statute for the trial, the form of 
the indictment, &c. It was plainly implied in their opinion 
that the venue, which was New South Wales, and the juris- 
diction should be sufficient unless the contrary were shown. 
Upon the face of this record the offence is charged to 
have been committed in Missouri, in the United States of 
America, and it therefore appears to their Lordships that it 
is manifestly shown, beyond all possibility of doubt, that the 
offence charged was an offence which, if committed at all, 
was committed in another country, beyond the jurisdiction 
of the Colony of New South Wales. 
The result, as it appears to their Lordships, must be that 
there was no jurisdiction to try the alleged offender for this 
offence, and that this conviction should be set aside. Their 
Lordships think it right to add that they are of opinion that 
if the wider construction had been applied to the statute, 
and it was supposed that it was intended thereby to com- 
prehend cases so wide as those insisted on at the bar, it 
would have been beyond the jurisdiction of the Colony to 
enact such a law. Their jurisdiction is confined within their 
own territories, and the maxim which has been more than 
once quoted, Extra territorium jus dicenti impune non 
paretur, would be applicable to such a case. Lord Wensley- 
dale, when Baron Parke, advising the House of Lords in 
Jefferys v. Boosey! expresses the same proposition in very 
terse language. He says: ‘The Legislature has no power 
over any persons except its own subjects—that is, persons 
natural-born subjects, or resident, or whilst they are within 
the limits of the kingdom. The Legislature can impose 
no duties except on them; and when legislating for the 
benefit of persons, must, prima facie, be considered to mean 
the benefit of those who owe obedience to our laws, and whose 
‘nterests the Legislature is under a correlative obligation to 
protect.” All crime is local. The jurisdiction over the crime 
belongs to the country where the crime is committed, and, 
oxcept over her own subjects, Her Majesty and the Imperial 
Legislature have no power whatever. It appears to their 
Lordships that the effect of giving the wider interpretation 
to this statute necessary to sustain this indictment would 
be to comprehend a great deal more than Her Majesty's 
4H. L. R. 815,at p. 926. Cf. Letroy, Legislative Power in Canada, p. 321.