398 PARLIAMENTS OF THE DOMINIONS [part 11 
bhe Offences Against the Person Act, 1861, which was expressly 
intended in this regard to put a stop to the practice of duelling 
by British subjects all over the world. Nor can it be held 
that the attempt to dispose of the case of Macleod! was 
satisfactory. There is no trace in the judgement of the 
Privy Council of the view that they would have differentiated 
the matter had Macleod been domiciled in New South Wales 
instead, as was apparently the case, of not being domiciled 
there. Nor is there any justification for the theory that the 
general colonial legislation applies to a colonial vessel. 
The Admiralty Offences (Colonialy Act, 1849, and certain 
sections of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, confer on 
Colonial Courts jurisdiction to enforce the laws not of the 
Colony but the laws of England, which are assumed to 
prevail upon any British ship within the jurisdiction of the 
Admiralty. Tt is true that a doubtful case remains, namely, 
the position of a British subject by naturalization in a Colony. 
Colonial naturalization, both by the limitation of the legis- 
lative power of a Colony and by the Naturalization Act, 1870, 
can confer the status of a British subject only within the 
actual limits of a Colony, but as a matter of fact this anomaly 
is not of much importance, for if a man commits any offence 
on board a British ship in the high seas he is subject, under 
8. 686 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, to the jurisdiction 
of any Court in His Majesty’s dominions, which would have 
the power to try the case had the crime been committed 
within the ordinary jurisdiction of that Court. Even the 
few cases in which a British subject naturalized in a Colony 
may escape punishment because colonial laws do not apply 
deyond the territory may be safely neglected.2 
While it cannot be held that the attempt of the Chief 
Justice is very satisfactory or convincing, at the same time 
it would be idle to ignore, in view of the cases of Cain and 
Gilhula, that the territorial limits of the jurisdiction of the 
Legislature of a Colony must be deemed to extend so far as 
[1891] A. C. 455. 
See e.g. the Acts 35 Hon, VIL ¢. 2; 11 & 12 Will. IIL. 12; 33 & 34 
Vict. ¢. 90; 52 & 53 Viet, o, 52; 46 & 47 Vict, ¢, 3.