the Judge may, if he thinks fit, send him to a Reformatory School instead of inflicting the half punishment.[1]
Application of the Code.
Sooner or later the time must come when Siam will be freed from the present régime of what is popularly called extraterritoriality, or the system under which the subjects of the Treaty Powers are exempt from the jurisdiction of the Siamese Courts and are subject only to the jurisdiction of the Courts of their own Consuls or Judges. A Penal Code for Siam which is adopted at a time like this when the abolition of the system of consular jurisdiction seems so much nearer in sight than ever before, should, of course, provide for the event of its being applied not only to Siamese subjects but to foreigners as well. Moreover, such a Code should provide for the event of its being applied not only to foreigners committing offences in Siam, but also to foreigners committing at least some special kinds of offence out of Siam. Such special kinds of offences are the offences against the King of Siam and the Siamese Government, the offences of counterfeiting Siamese coins, and of forging Siamese paper currency notes or bank notes, Siamese revenue stamps, etc., etc. When the old Japanese Penal Code was. enacted thirty years ago as a means of preparing the way for the day when the Treaty Powers should give up Consular jurisdiction, that day seemed so far away that even the eminent French jurist, M. Boissonade, who drafted that Code, did not think it worth while to provide for the event of its being applied to foreigners committing such special kinds of offences out of Japan. No great inconvenience was felt as long as the Treaty Powers maintained Consular jurisdiction. But when, on the outbreak of the war with China, the Treaty Powers suddenly gave up Consular jurisdiction in Japan, the defect of the old Penal Code in this respect became very evident and it was one of the principal causes that necessitated the enactment of the new Penal Code for Japan. In this respect the Siamese have desired to do better than the Japanese had done thirty years ago. At any rate, the Siamese did not want to draw up a Code intended for a certain state of things and which, when that very state of things should begin to exist, it would be found necessary to supersede
- ↑ Sections 56, 57, 58.
