judges, by order of the sheriff she was committed
to the female factory at Parramatta. Her husband then sued out a writ of
_habeas corpus_, to which the return, as amended by the direction of the
court, alleged under the hand of the colonial secretary, that her
detention was by authority of Governor Darling, she being a prisoner of
the crown. The question seemed to depend on the nature of the rights
conveyed by assignment; but a second arose: whether those rights could
be exercised beyond the limits of the territory appointed for the
transportation; or whether Governor Arthur was authorised to permit the
removal. The judges, Forbes, Stephen, and Dowling, decided that the
prisoner having been transported to Van Diemen's Land, was, by removal
to Port Jackson, no longer under the provisions of the act of
parliament; that neither the magistrates nor Governor of New South
Wales, could make her the subject of summary treatment; but as a
prisoner illegally at large, must remand her to the place of her
original and unsatisfied term of transportation.

In giving this decision, the judges announced their opinion upon the
rights of assignment in general, as regulated by the 9th Geo. iv. cap.
83. The Act required the consent of the governor in the assignment of a
prisoner, and authorised the revocation of that assignment: this power
to revoke, was however, to enable the governor to grant remission--to
change the civil condition of the servant; and thus, by his restoration
to liberty, to extinguish the rights of the assignee. The law officers,
on the part of government, alleged that the discretion was absolute, and
authorised a summary disposal of the services of the prisoner; whether
under, or independent of, a magisterial decision.

The chief justice, however, maintained that such a right in the
executive might be ruin to the people. He asserted, that the duty and
right of the governor was limited to the execution of a public trust, as
between the crown on one side and the prisoner on the other; to minister
to a covenant, subject only to those stipulations, the neglect of which
might, by the common rights of humanity, dissolve the engagement. "If,"
he remarked, "the governor, at discretion, may revoke the assignment of
prisoners, as a consequence he may render the estates of landholders of
no value; nor does it appear that this power of revocation is
sustainable under any circumstances in the large and discretionary form
claimed