The Shadow of Great Britain

Even so, even with only these six charges remaining, due to the high number of death sentences pronounced by the Central Criminal Court each year, during the reign of King William IV, he frequently had to personally amend death penalty verdicts during the monarch review stage. This almost became a convention, leading to judges having to report the verdict to King William IV after every death sentence was passed, and then allow this kind-hearted Sailor King to make the final decision.

In short, in present-day Britain, even if you were sentenced to death, unless you truly were beyond redemption with no chance of reprieve, there was still over a ninety percent chance of having your sentence commuted to transportation or many years of hard labor.

In just seven short years, society has changed so much that even Sir Arthur Hastings, who was once an ardent opponent of the ”Bloody Code,” couldn’t help but lament the rapid progress of society.

However, Arthur didn’t quite understand why the death penalty memorandum from the Central Criminal Court ended up with him.

Because according to the ”Central Criminal Court Act” pushed through by Lord Chief Justice Brougham in 1834, this court, which consolidated the criminal trial functions of the jury courts and Magistrates’ Courts in the Greater London Area and Southern England, is directly under the leadership and supervision of the High Chancellor and the Home Secretary.

In summary, this is a department independent of the Police Commissioner Committee, and neither owes anything to the other. If we really want to discuss importance and social status, the level of the Central Criminal Court is even higher than that of the Police Commissioner Committee.

After all, apart from mayors, Court of Appeal judges and high judges from the southern counties, the judges there even include representatives from the Cabinet.

Why did Samuel randomly throw this thing at him?

As for Sir Arthur Hastings, he had no intention of picking a fight with the Central Criminal Court, especially not when the High Chancellor was no longer Lord Brougham, a subject he was even less interested in.

”Mr. Phillips.” Arthur put down his teacup, his tone neither cold nor warm: ”This kind of thing, logically speaking, should be sent directly to the Home Secretary’s office.”

Samuel did not reply but bent down and placed the memorandum squarely in the upper right corner of Arthur’s desk, gently tapping the edge of the cover with his knuckle, as if reminding Arthur: ”Please look at the title first.”

Arthur glanced down, and sure enough, his eyebrows rose.

This was not a regular death penalty confirmation memorandum but a dissent registration with a red label attached.

In short, it was a controversial death sentence.

At the top, a single sentence succinctly explained why this document had landed on his desk: This case has attracted significant public and media attention; it is still undecided whether Her Majesty the Queen will personally decide on a pardon; an opinion from the Police Commissioner Committee is required for prudent decision-making by the department.

Dammit, passing the buck!

This was Arthur’s instinctive reaction.

But it was understandable for Arthur to react this way. As a seasoned White Hall bureaucrat, he had handled similar matters far too many times.

Not to mention, just the shooting under the Tower of London and the Caucasus incident were enough to leave him with very painful lessons.

Arthur pushed the memorandum back an inch and moved the teacup further away: ”Mr. Phillips, I certainly understand the Home Office’s cautious attitude in the current political climate. The unclear public opinion, the upcoming election, and the overnight articles in the newspapers are indeed headaches. But...”

Phillips still sat still, his gaze steadily on Arthur’s face, as if waiting for a real keyword to appear.

”In terms of authority.” Arthur continued: ”We can certainly order Scotland Yard to provide the Central Criminal Court with investigation materials from the scene, background records of the defendant, and security assessments on the execution level. But whether to pardon belongs to the discretionary power of the Cabinet, the Home Secretary, or Her Majesty the Queen.”

Arthur paused, picked up the teacup, but didn’t drink, looking as if ready to cap it on Samuel’s head at any moment: ”If Scotland Yard is to express opinions on public opinion ahead of the procedure, it may lead some to mistakenly believe that the police also have the ability to pre-determine. In that case, Fleet Street will likely only be more excited, which will be of no help in calming the situation.”

”So what do you mean?” Phillips’ gaze flickered slightly, and he asked slowly: ”You refuse to provide any form of explanatory statement?”

”I didn’t say refuse.” Arthur put down the teacup, drumming his fingers lightly on the table: ”I just want to know, does the Home Office want us to provide a factual report or a policy recommendation? You need to make that clear, and pardon my impoliteness, keeping a written record is a necessary part of it.”

In the context of White Hall bureaucrats, Arthur’s words were already quite explicit.

The underlying message was: Whatever you want, we can fabricate it for you, but when things go wrong later, don’t expect to wash your hands clean like with the Cold Bath incident. The Police Commissioner Committee and Scotland Yard will not come out to take the blame.

Samuel seemed to have anticipated Arthur’s reaction long ago. He took a neatly folded blue note from his pocket: ”Given the current situation, the minister leans towards the latter.”