Extradition

the surrender of an alleged criminal by one state or nation to another for trial. American readers are interested in the extradition of fugitives by one state of the Union to another, and extradition between our own country and other countries. The first we may call interstate extradition; the second international extradition. The American colonies were never eager to give asylum to criminals. The New England Confederation of 1643 provided for the return of criminals escaping from one colony to another. The Articles of Confederation made similar provision. The second clause of Section 2 of Article IV of the Constitution runs:

A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.

The process by which a fugitive from justice is to be delivered up is prescribed by Congressional act of 1793. The accused must first of all be indicted duly in the state where the offense was committed. The magistrate before whom the indictment is laid examines the charge, and, if satisfied that the indictment is true, he issues a warrant for the arrest of the accused. The warrant is then presented to the chief executive of the state. This official in turn makes requisition upon the governor of the state in which the accused is thought to be. The latter, after satisfying himself that the proceedings are regular and justifiable, issues a warrant for the arrest of the fugitive. The accused has the right of appealing to the courts for protection. This he does under a writ of habeas corpus. This course requires the arresting officer to produce convincing proof of the prisoner's guilt, or else the court will set the prisoner free. In practice, interstate extradition is not always a simple matter. A crime is an offense made so by law. The laws of the two states may not agree as to what constitutes the crime in question, and, moreover, though the national Constitution commands the governor to deliver the guilty fugitive, it provides no means of coercing a governor to do so. The whole matter falls back, like many other processes at law, largely upon good sense and a desire to do justice. All proper expenses of arrest, confinement, trial, if any, under habeas corpus, and transportation, must be borne by the state making the demand.

There have been notable instances of refusal to extradite. During Dorr's Rebellion Governor Cleveland of Connecticut refused to surrender Dorr to the governor of Rhode Island on the ground that the treason laws of Rhode Island were not valid in Connecticut. Governor Seward of New York refused to surrender fugitives accused of stealing slaves from the slave states to set them free. Seward maintained that it was not contrary to the laws of New York, nor contrary to common law, nor contrary to the usages of civilized nations to set a slave free, and that slave stealing for the purpose of emancipation was not-the United States Constitution to the contrary-an offense warranting extradition. Governor Seward's course, it may be noted, lay dangerously near nullification.

Until recently the surrender of fugitives was a question largely of personal inclination on the part of rulers. Ancient treaties of surrender were not infrequent, but they related chiefly to the surrender of political offenders. A study of these agreements extending back for 3,500 years reveals an anxiety to recover the persons of those who had offended rulers rather than to bring thieves and murderers to justice. As late as 1849 the governments of Russia and Austria suspended diplomatic relations with Turkey, because the sultan refused to surrender revolutionary Poles and Hungarians who had fled to his domains for protection. A very decided change has taken place. The civilized world now holds

1. That political refugees should not be surrendered. 2. That the crime for which fugitives may be given up must be named by treaty. 3. That requisition must be made through diplomatic channels. 4. That the officials or courts of the country of refuge shall be satisfied that the requisition is reasonable and that it is made in good faith.

Formal extradition treaties are of recent origin. As late as 1870 Great Britain had entered into treaties of this sort with France and the United States only. In that year a general extradition act passed by Parliament authorizing the British government to enter into extradition agreements provided expressly:

1. That a fugitive criminal shall not be surrendered for a political offence, or if he prove that his surrender has in fact been required with a view of trying him for a political offence. 2. Provision must be made that a surrendered criminal shall not be tried for any but the extradition crime. 3. Criminals accused or convicted of offences in England shall not be surrendered in extradition until they are discharged. 4. There must be an interval of 15 days between the committal to prison and the surrender.

The following statement is that of the Britannica:

"When the Act applies, a fugitive criminal of a foreign state is liable to surrender. A requisition for that purpose must be addressed to a secretary of state by some person recognized as a diplomatic representative of the foreign state. The secretary of state, unless he thinks the offence is one of a political character, may inform a police magistrate of the requisition, and require him to issue his warrant for the apprehension of the criminal. The police magistrate, when the criminal is brought before him, shall receive any evidence tending to show that the offence is political, or is not an extradition crime. If the evidence is such as would justify a committal for trial in England, or would prove that the prisoner has been convicted, the magistrate commits him to prison, and after fifteen days' interval, or if a habeas corpus is issued after the decision of the court, the secretary of state may by his warrant deliver him over to the representatives of the foreign country. If the prisoner is not removed within two months he must be discharged."

The following is a list of extradition crimes, to be construed according to the law existing in England:

Murder and attempt and conspiring to murder; manslaughter; counterfeiting or altering money, and uttering; forgery, counterfeiting, and altering what is forged, etc.; embezzlement and larceny; obtaining money and goods by false pretenses; bankruptcy crime; fraud by bailee, banker, agent, etc.; rape; abduction; child-stealing; burglary and house-breaking; arson; robbery with violence; threats by letter or otherwise, with intent to extort; piracy by law of nations; sinking or destroying a vessel at sea, or attempting or conspiring to do so; assaults on board ship on the high seas, with intent to destroy life or to do grievous bodily harm; revolt or conspiracy to revolt by two or more persons on board a ship on the high seas against the authority of the master. The Extradition Act of 1873 adds the following:-Kidnapping and false imprisonment; perjury and subornation of perjury; and indictable offences, not previously named.

Jay's treaty of 1794 provided for extradition with Great Britain for a term of twelve years. After a lapse an extradition treaty agreement was entered into in 1842. In the same year an extradition treaty was negotiated with France.

The United States now has extradition treaties with about thirty nations. The list of extradition crimes, practically that of the United Kingdom, is: Arson; assassination; assault with intent to commit murder; burglary; circulation or fabrication of counterfeit moneys; counterfeiting public bonds, stamps, marks of state and administrative authority, etc.; embezzlement of the public money; embezzlement by public officers; embezzlement by persons hired or salaried; utterances of forged paper; forgery; infanticide; kidnaping; larceny of cattle or other goods and chattels of the value of twenty-five dollars (found only in the treaty with Mexico); mutiny; murder; mutilation; parricide; piracy; poisoning; rape; and robbery.