LAW OF BIGAMY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1919, Page 3

LAW OF BIGAMY.

UPHELD BY COURT OF APPEAL. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, July IS. The judges of the Court of Appeal ,thiu morniiig decided by six to one that Section 224 of the Crimes Act, 1908, dealing with bigamy, was severable and still held good in .New Zealand. The Court of Appeal this morning delivered its reserved judgment in the case of Rex v. Jackson, in which the validity of the New Zealand law on the subjett of bigamy was questioned by the recent decision of the Chief Justice, w/io field that section 224 of the Crimes Act, 1908, could not be severed by sinking out the words "In any part of the world," and that the whole section was bad . He, however, suggested that Parliament might pass a law declaring that the present section was for the good government of New Zealand and make it binding on all courts. i The Judges sitting this morning dealt with the question as purely one of construction and that if tho words "In any part of tho world" were left out there was still left a perfectly complete definition of bigamy, which was operative in New Zealand like all the rest of the Crimes Act and further Acts. The interpretation of the Act entitled the court to apply the words distinctly to New Zealand. The order of the Supreme Court quashing the indictment was set .:side and a new trial on the indictment ordered.