🚀 go-pugleaf

child openly, probably having hawked him from door to
    door. The sentence of the Court on you, Tang Atim, is that you be
    imprisoned and kept to hard labor for two years, and that you be
    kept in solitary confinement for a period of one week in every two
    months of your imprisonment."

Chan Achit, an old woman, convicted of having unlawfully detained a
female child of 11 years of age, with intent to sell her, was next
placed in the dock. His Lordship said:

    "The evidence in this case has shown the extraordinary extent to
    which, under cloak of China custom, the iniquity of dealing in
    children has extended. From the evidence, I have no doubt that a
    vagabond clansman to whom the father had occasionally given out of
    his penury had originated the crime in enticing the child away,
    and it seems to me to be clear that the prisoner was as well known
    as a 'broker of mankind' as a receiver of stolen children, to sell
    them on commission, as receivers of old iron and marine stores
    could be found in this Colony to dispose of stolen property. The
    little girl bought and sold, aged 11 years, is a very intelligent
    child, and described the negotiations for her sale with great
    clearness."

The Chief Justice then went on to repeat the little girl's testimony
as to these "brokers of mankind," and the child's knowledge, from
personal observation of these purchases and sales, to which he adds:

    "Let me here ask, Is the trade, or rather profession, 'broker of
    mankind,' also a sacred China custom? I will not ask the queries
    which would naturally arise in case the question were answered in
    the affirmative. At present, however, I must say that, custom
    or no custom, the practice of this profession is prohibited by
    statute, and it is my duty to meet its exercise by punishment."

The prisoner was sentenced to two years' penal servitude. The Chief
Justice concluded