Privy Council Court December 1946 Judgments

Pulukuri Kottaya and Others Vs. Emperor

Court: Privy Council

Sir John Beaumont: This is an appeal by special leave against the judgment and order of the High Court of Judicature at Madras, dated 22-10-1945, dismissing an appeal against the judgment and order of the Court of Session, Guntur Division, dated 2-8-1945, whereby the appellants, who were accused 1 to 9, and nine others, were found guilty on charges of rioting and murder. Appellants 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8 were sentenced to death, and appellants 3 to 9 were sentenced to transportation for life. There were other lesser concurrent sentences which need not be noticed. At the conclusion of the arguments their Lordships announced the advice which they would humbly tender to His Majesty, and they now give their reasons for that advice. [2] The offence charged was of a type common in many parts of India in which there are factions in a village, and the members of one faction are assaulted by members of the other faction, and, in the prosecution which results, the Crown witnesses belong to the part...

Chittambaram Vs. Emperor

Court: Privy Council

Reported in: AIR1947PC85

Lord Wright: At the conclusion of the arguments in this appeal, their Lordships expressed their opinion that the appeal should be dismissed and stated that they would give their reasons later. This they now proceed to do. 2. This is an appeal from the judgment of Mr. Justice Dunkley, Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Rangoon, dated 26-3-1946, in which he reviewed and confirmed a judgment given on 25-2-1946, by U Kyaw U, a Special Judge appointed under the Special Judges Act, 1943 (Burma Act No. 10 [x] of 1943) for Rangoon Town District. The said Special Judge had convicted the appellant under S. 302, Penal Code, and sentenced him to death. This sentence was confirmed by the High Court. 3. The appellant petitioned His Majesty in Council for special leave to appeal both on the merits and on the question of the jurisdiction of the Special Judge. His submission on the latter point was that the Special Judge had no jurisdiction to try him and that the whole of the proceedings in his...

Minister of National Revenue Vs. Wrights and Canadian Ropes, Ltd.

Court: Privy Council

LORD GREENE: This appeal relates to three assessments made against the respondent Company Wrights' Canadian Ropes Limited under the Income War Tax Act and the Excess Profits Tax Act of the Dominion of Canada for the Respondents' fiscal years 1940, 1941 and 1942. The questions in issue are the same for all three years and the relevant statutory provisions are the same under both Acts. It is accordingly sufficient to refer to the Income War Tax Act alone. The only matter upon which the assessments were challenged by the Respondents was the disallowance by the Appellant of part of certain sums which had admittedly been paid in the years in question by the Respondents to an English Company, Wrights' Ropes Limited of Birmingham, by way of commission under an existing contract dated 12th September 1935. These sums were claimed by the Respondents to be properly deductible in computing the amount of their taxable income. [2] The contract by clause 1 was expressed to supersede an earlier contra...

Davis and Co., Incorporated Vs. H.M. Procurator General

Court: Privy Council

LORD WRIGHT: This is an appeal from a judgment of Lord Merriman, P., condemning two shipments of oil as good and lawful prize, being shipments of oil destined for Germany. The oil was admittedly absolute contraband of war. One shipment formed the cargo of the "CharlesRacine", a motor vessel owned in Norway, but at the material time under Charter to a Company known as the Eurotank of Hamburg, which it will appear later was a subsidiary of the appellant, Davis and Company, Inc., an American Company. The cargo which consisted of 14,688.77 long tons of gas oil had been shipped in the circumstances to be stated later at Tampico, Mexico, before the commencement of the war under a bill of lading dated 21-8-1939, and was admittedly destined on shipment for Hamburg. The other cargo was being carried on the "Petter", and consisted of 14,078 tons of fuel oil shipped by the appellant under a bill of lading dated Houston, Texas, 27-8-1939, and was likewise destined for Hamburg. There were other cir...