JUDGMENT
These six Appeals have been consolidated. The Appellants appeal from convictions under Section 71 of the Penal Code of being members of an unlawful Society, namely the Mau Mau Society and of convictions under Section 70 of the Penal Code of managing or assisting in the management of the same unlawful Society. Under Section 72 of the Penal Code, a prosecution for either of these offences shall not be instituted without the consent of the Governor. The subsequent amendment to this section rendering such consent unnecessary in the case of the Mau Mau Society did not apply to these prosecutions, as it was enacted subsequently.
The first point taken by the Appellants is that there was no consent to the prosecutions by the Governor. It is admitted, however, that prosecutions of the Appellants for offences under these sections were consented to by the Member for Law and Order acting for the Governor under a purported delegation to the Member by the Governor of his power to give such c…