OCTOBER 10 — It beats me how an ex-Chief Justice could be drawn into the semantics of the term ‘free pardon’. After duly noting that the Federal Constitution is silent on the meaning of ‘free pardon’, Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad then asked:
“Can it (‘free pardon’) be equated to a ‘full pardon’?
Seriously.
Reference could have been made to the authoritative legal text of Halsbury’s Laws of England (Vol 20, 2014). After stating the law on pardons generally (para 139), the text explains the effect of pardon (para 142) as follow:
“Pardons may be free, conditional or in the form of a remission or partial remission of sentence. The effect of a free pardon is to clear the person from all consequences of the offence for which it is granted, and from all statutory or other disqualifications following upon conviction, but not to remove the conviction.”
Thus the term 'free pardon' is used to differentiate it from a pardon that is conditional or a pardon in the form of a remission (full or partial) of sentence.
Clearly a free pardon is a full pardon. That both are one and the same thing may be seen in the judgment of Watkin LJ in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Bentley [1993] 4 All ER 442. This English case concerns an application for a judicial review on the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy by the Home Secretary. After hearing submissions from the parties, the court noted that the grant of a free pardon should be reserved for cases where it could be established that the convicted person was morally and technically innocent and that the policy of confining the grant of a free pardon to such cases had been followed by successive Home Secretaries for over a century.
In deciding to look at the matter afresh, Watkins LJ, who delivered the judgment of the court, said:
“We propose to set aside any question of a free (or full) pardon and look at the matter afresh.” (Emphasis added)
I agree with the views expressed by Surendra Ananth and Datuk Zaid Ibrahim that a full pardon is a free pardon.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
