Penalties of Empire

'We must have a procedure - if we are going to hang anyone - that is just,' said Chief Justice Sir Francis Piggott in 1909, on discovering that Chinese persons accused of murder were being denied interpretation in Hong Kong's courts. Due process, no matter how costly or inconvenient, was 'one of the penalties of empire,' he declared. Penalties of Empire explores how judges, juries and lawyers strove to deliver justice during the 150 years when the death penalty was in force in Hong Kong. Nine main chapters focus on key capital trials in the first century of British rule. Among the cases are piracies, assassinations, crimes of passion, and murders committed from desperation. These chapters describe the proceedings and participants in court.