Act (which as we have indicated was intended to and does have the effect of enabling the Director to respond to requests from any foreign country), there is no basis for concluding that the words used in the Investigation Law of 1991 should be interpreted as having any meaning other than their natural meaning.

Accordingly it is necessary to consider whether or not the Investigation Law of 1991 is, as the applicants contend, in whole or in part outside the powers of the States of Guernsey.

The court has received extensive submissions from all the parties concerning the circumstances in which legislation passed by a legislature subordinate to the UK Parliament may be held to be ultra vires, either because repugnant to United Kingdom legislation applying to the subordinate territory, or because designed to have an extra-territorial effect going beyond the proper confines of the jurisdiction of the subordinate legislature.

We take next the question of repugnancy. Reliance was placed on the decision of the English Court of Appeal in R v Secretary of State for Home Department, ex parte Fire Brigades Union and others [1995] 1 All ER 888. Legislation had been passed in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 providing for a new scheme for compensation for criminal injuries to take the place of an existing scheme made under the prerogative. The legislation gave the Secretary of State power to determine when the statutory scheme should be brought into force.