STATUTE LAW REVISION: SIXTEENTH ... - Law Commission

abolished in 1857 and hard labour substituted; penal servitude
and hard labour were later abolished and imprisonment
substituted. 14 Thus the maximum penalty under section 10 is now
fourteen years’ imprisonment. These changes in the law also
make unnecessary the lesser, alternative penalty under section 10
of three to five years’ imprisonment, the reference to which is also
proposed for repeal. These amendments are given effect by the
connected provisions set out in Schedule 2 to the draft Bill;
(b) in section 11, repeal of the obsolete reference declaring an
offence under the section to be a misdemeanour, also effected by
a connected provision in Schedule 2 to the draft Bill.
8.3 Sections 3 to 8 impose various monetary penalties and forfeitures on those
offending against section 2. Thus section 3 imposes penalties of £100 per slave
and forfeiture of property rights in slaves on those dealing in, selling, importing or
carrying away slaves, one part of the monetary penalty going to the Crown, the
other part to the informer or prosecutor. Section 4 imposes the penalty of
forfeiture of the ship on those fitting out a ship for the slave trade. Section 5
penalises those who provide capital for the slave trade by imposing a penalty of
forfeiture of double the value of the money, goods or effects involved. Section 6
imposes similar penalties on those guaranteeing “slave adventures” and section
7 imposes like penalties on those shipping goods to be employed in the slave
trade. Section 8 imposes a penalty of a £100 forfeit on every contract of
insurance for slaves or slave adventures and treble the amount of the premium,
the parts to be divided as under section 3. All the activities penalised under
sections 3 to 8 are also criminal offences by virtue of sections 10 and 11; and in
the event of prosecution for any such offence or for an offence at common law,
the full range of penalties on conviction would be available, including deprivation
of property in prescribed circumstances 15 and confiscation of property where it is
shown that the person convicted has benefited from the offence. 16 Sections 3 to
8 are therefore unnecessary as part of the armoury of the criminal law. They are
in any event obsolete, in both the kind and the quantum of the monetary
14 See Penal Servitude Act 1857, s 2; Criminal Justice Act 1948, s 1(1) (England and Wales);
Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1948, s.16 (Scotland); Criminal Justice Act (Northern
Ireland ) 1953, s 1 (Northern Ireland).
15 See Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973, ss 43-43A. (In Scotland, see Criminal Procedure
(Scotland) Act 1975, ss 223 and 436 - now Proceeds of Crime (Scotland) Act 1995, Part II.
In Northern Ireland, see Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 1994, arts 11 and 12). By
s 43 the property concerned must have been used, or intended to be used, to commit or
facilitate the commission of any offence. It may, for example, include a vehicle used to
transport stolen property by persons convicted of handling: Archbold, para 5-520. Thus the
power could be used, for example, to order forfeiture of a ship engaged in the slave trade.
16 See Criminal Justice Act 1988, ss 77 et seq as amended by the Proceeds of Crime Act
1995. For Scotland, see Proceeds of Crime (Scotland) Act 1995, Part II. For Northern
Ireland, see the Criminal Justice (Confiscation) (Northern Ireland) Orders 1990 and 1993.
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