Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
| Published date | 01 May 1980 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201838004400206 |
| Date | 01 May 1980 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Judicial
Committee
of
the
Privy Council
Comments
on
Cases
DELA Y IN ISSUE
OF
WARRANT
OF
EXECUTION
Abbott
v. Attorney-Generalfor Trinidad and Tobago
Where there is a long period of time between the imposition of the
death penalty and the ultimate warrant for the execution of that
sentence, may the condemned person appeal on the ground that such
treatment is unlawful? In delivering the opinion of the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council in
Abbott
v. Attorney-General for
Trinidad and Tobago [1979] 1 W. L. R. 1342, Lord Diplock, while
conceding that a lapse of six years between sentence and the order for
execution was "greatly to be deplored", since it brings the
administration of justice into disrepute, nevertheless pointed
out
that it
would be unrealistic to suggest that the condemned man would wish to
expedite the decision: "while there's life, there's hope". The applicant
in that case claimed that the tardy issue of the warrant for his
execution amounted to a denial of his consititutional right to "life,
liberty and security without due process
of
law". The delay had been
caused by the coming into effect of a new republican constitution,
which transferred the prerogative of mercy from the Crown to the new
head
of
State. That prerogative had to be exercised after a committee
had reported to a designated Minister, who would proffer his own
advice to the head of State. Pending the first election after the
constitution came into effect, there was a delay in establishing the
committee in question; but the delay in issuingthe warrant of execution
in the instant case had been primarily caused by the various appeals
taken by the appellant. Following the earlier decision in Freitas v.
Benny [1976] A. C. 239, [1976]
40J.C.L.114,suchperiodofdelay
could not be regarded as a ground of complaint, so that there was only
an intervening period of some eight months during which it could be
alleged that the government had been inactive.
89
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