So It Seems That A Most Queerly Muddled System Of Law Prevails Under
Our Flag, Mohammedan Law, Modified By Degenerate
And evil custom, and
to some extent by the discretion of the residents, existing alongside
of fragments of English criminal
Law, or more perhaps correctly of
"justice's justice," the Resident's notions of "equity," overriding all
else.* Surely, as we have practically acquired those States, and are
responsible for their good government, we ought to give them the
blessing of a simple code of law, of which the residents shall be only
the responsible interpreters, modified by the true "Malay custom" of
course, but under the same conditions which are giving such growing
satisfaction to the peoples of India and Ceylon.
[*A Colonial friend tells me that he asked an English magistrate in one
of the native States, by what law - English, Colonial, or Malay - he had
sentenced some culprits to three years' imprisonment, and that the reply
was a shrug, and "The rascals were served right."]
The oaths are equally inscrutable, and probably no oath, however
terrible in formula, would restrain a Chinese coolie witness from
telling a lie, if he thought it would be to his advantage.*
[*Sir Benson Maxwell, late Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements, to
whose kindness I am much indebted, wrote to me lately thus: "In China I
believe an oath is rarely taken; when it is, it is in the form of an
imprecation. The witness cuts off a cock's head, and prays that he may
be so treated if he speaks falsely." "Would you cut off a cock's head to
that?" I once asked a Chinese witness who had made a statement which I
did not believe. "I would cut off an elephant's head to it," he replied.
In the Colonial courts, Chinamen are sworn by burning a piece of paper
on which is written some imprecation on themselves if they do not speak
the truth.]
I went to see the jail, a tolerable building - a barred cage below, and
a long room above - standing in a graveled courtyard, surrounded by a
high wall. Formerly there were no prisons, and criminals were punished
on the spot, either by being krissed, shot, or flogged. Here they have
a liberal diet of rice and salt fish, and "hard labor" is only mild
work on the roads. The prisoners, forty-two adult men, were drawn up in
a row, and Mr. Syers called the roll, telling the crime of each man,
and his conduct in prison; and most of those who had conducted
themselves well were to be recommended to the Sultan for remission of
part of their sentences. "Flog them if they are lazy," the Resident
often said; but Mr. Syers says that he never punishes them except under
aggravated circumstances. The prisoners are nearly all Chinamen, and
their crimes are mostly murder, gang-robbery, assault, and theft.
About half of them were in chains. There is an unusual mortality in the
prison, attributed, though possibly not _attributable_, to the enforced
disuse of opium.
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