The Calcutta Weekly Notes Law Notes and Notes of Cases of the Calcutta High Court and of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the English Law Courts Monday June 14 1926

On the 22nd March on the vote for the Prime Minister’s Department in the debate on the Estimates in the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa General Hertzog the Prime Minister delivered a momentous pronouncement in relation to the international status of South Africa. [...] Under Ale law of procedure it is the duty of the Judge to explain to the jury the law applicable to the case and it is the duty of the jury to accept the law as laid down by the Judge withoutany extraneous aid. [...] If the jury is unable to understand the law fully and clearly it is the duty of the Judge to explain it to them afresh but the idea of supplying the jury with a copy of the Indian Penal Code so that they might gather the law therefrom is wholly foreign to what the legislature has enacted as the pr ocedure governing sessions trials for the explanation of the law applicable to the case under trial. [...] Their Lordships condemn the ridiculous procdure adopted by the Sessions Judge in this repect and also point out that when the verdict of the jury is confused and unintelligible it is the duty of the Judge to obtain from them a proper and correct verdict belorq accepting the verdict given and that the record of the heads of charge should be such as to convey sufficient information to the Hi [...] The rsult is a text-book of 600 odd pagesin whicl the subject-matter of the Code is re-arranged to suit the purposes of a more scientific study of the provisions and.the purposes of the Code.