Section 178: Exercise of right of appeal to Privy Council – Application to leave the

178. Exercise of right of appeal to Privy Council – Application to leave the country—The applicant had been granted leave to appeal to the Privy Council from a decision of the Court of Appeal (i) upholding the conviction of the applicant for offences of possession of opium and attempting to bribe a public officer and (ii) upholding sentences of 5 years’ penal servitude and 6 months’ imprisonment with hard labour. One of the conditions of the leave to appeal to the Privy Council was that the applicant should not, pending his appeal, leave the country without an order of the Judge in Chambers. He applied to the Judge in Chambers for such an order on the ground that his absence from the country was necessary to enable him to continue conducting his business and to retain and brief Counsel and solicitor in the UK. HELD the interests of public order in ensuring that a sentence lawfully passed should be served in the event of an appeal not succeeding had primacy over the right to freedom of movement which includes the right to leave the country; the particular grounds put forward by the applicant did not justify the making of an order allowing him to leave the country. Coorbanally v R (1981).