Penal Servitude Act 1857

II Sentence of Transportation abolished, and Sentence of Penal Servitude substituted.

After the Commencement of this Act, no Person shall be sentenced to Transportation; and any Person who, if this Act and the said Act had not been passed, might have been sentenced to Transportation, shall, after the Commencement of this Act, be liable to be sentenced to be kept in Penal Servitude for a Term of the same Duration as the Term of Transportation to which such Person would have been liable if the said Act and this Act had not been passed; and in every Case where, at the Discretion of the Court, One of any Two or more Terms of Transportation might have been awarded, the Court shall have the like Discretion to award One of any Two or more of the Terms of Penal Servitude which are hereby authorized to be awarded instead of such Terms of Transportation: Provided always, that any Person who might at the Discretion of the Court have been sentenced either to Transportation for any Term or to any Period of Imprisonment, shall be liable at the Discretion of the Court to be sentenced either to Penal Servitude for the same Term or to the same Period of Imprisonment; and in any Case in which before the passing of the said Act Sentence of Seven Years Transportation might have been passed, it shall be lawful, for the Court in its Discretion to pass a Sentence of Penal Servitude of not less than Three Years.