Trial of Pedro de Zulueta, jun., on a Charge of Slave Trading, under 5 Geo. IV, cap. 113, on Friday the 27th, Saturday the 28th, and Monday the 30th of October, 1843, at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, London / A Full Report from the Short-hand Notes of W. B. Gurney, Esq.

by Pedro de Zulueta; William Brodie Gurney

Mr. Justice Maule. Are there any others?

Mr. Kelly. No, my Lord.

Mr. Justice Maule. I think there is no ground for the second point on the Act of Parliament of 6 & 7 Vict., cap. 98, as affording a construction to the Act of 5th Geo. IV, cap. 113. The suggestion is, that this Act amounts to a Parliamentary declaration, that the Act of the 5th of Geo. IV, cap. 113, does not prohibit Englishmen engaging in slave trading abroad. I should be very sorry to put a construction upon that Act, which would involve so great an absurdity to it, as would be created by its being supposed to be laid down that that which was declared to be illegal in Great Britain, and Ireland, and the Isle of Man, and also in the East Indies, and West India Islands, is not at all prohibited on the coast of Africa, which is the construction sought to be put upon this Act of Parliament. I cannot help thinking the Legislature have expressed the intention of prohibiting English subjects trading in slaves on the coast of Africa; and if that be so, the construction which Mr. Kelly insists ought to be derived from the statute of Victoria is not the true construction, or one which ought to prevail. With respect to the other objection, we think there is evidence to go to the Jury of Mr. Zulueta’s acts in London.

Mr. Serjeant Bompas. May I call your Lordship’s attention to the 50th section: “And be it further enacted, That all offences committed against this Act may be inquired of, tried, determined, and dealt with, as if the same had been respectively committed within the body of the county of Middlesex.” If it is within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, the venue is perfectly immaterial, if it is within the venue of the Court.

Mr. Justice Maule. I apprehend, that if a prisoner is indicted for a felony in Essex, within the limits of this Court, he will be tried here.

Mr. Bodkin. In a case in this Court where the venue stated merely the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court, the Court of Queen’s Bench held that indictment bad, because it was impossible to say from what county the Jury were to be called.

Mr. Justice Wightman. There the indictment had been tried in Middlesex, being removed from the Central Criminal Court. It was removed by certiorari and tried in Middlesex, and it was said there was no direction on the record to try it in Middlesex.

Mr. Justice Maule. But Mr. Bodkin says, if it is a London case, there ought to be a London Jury; if in Essex, an Essex Jury.

Mr. Bodkin. The Court of Queen’s Bench held the locality to be material.

Mr. Justice Wightman. Not generally. I have stated how it became material there, and why it is not material here. The case was removed by certiorari, and therefore it became material.