Application of Fugitive Return of Warrant. Endorsed XI. 44 & 45 Vict. c. 69. An Act to amend the law with respect to fugitive offenders in Her Majesty's dominions, and for other purposes connected with the trial of offenders. By the application of this Act, where a person accused of having committed an offence in one part of Her Majesty's dominions, or in a foreign country in which Her Majesty has jurisdiction, is found in another part of her dominions or in a foreign country in which she has jurisdiction, he may be apprehended under a warrant and returned to the country from which he is a fugitive. The warrant, where the offender has escaped from the foreign country, is to be issued by the Judge of the Consular Court. The warrant, where the offender has escaped to the foreign warrant (s. 3). country, is to be endorsed by the Judge of the Consular Court and such power of apprehending offenders as the Court has been invested with may be put in force on this endorsed warrant, by the persons to whom the warrant is addressed, or by the persons named in the endorsement. Provisional' The Judge may also issue a provisional warrant "for the warrant (s. 4). apprehension of a fugitive who is or is suspected of being in or on his way to" the country in which the Court is established, if the information is such that he would be justified in issuing a warrant if the offence had been committed within that country. Dealing with fugitive when Her Majesty's representative in the foreign country probably has the power conferred on the Governor of a British possession of discharging the person apprehended under the provisional warrant, notice of its issue being sent to him by the Judge. When the fugitive is apprehended he is to be tried as if he were charged with an offence committed in the foreign country. The endorsed warrant being duly authenticated, if the evidence raises "a strong or probable presumption that the fugitive committed the offence mentioned in the warrant," the Judge is to commit him to prison to await his return, and to send a certificate of committal to Her Majesty's representative. The fugitive is to be informed that he will not be surrendered until after the expiration of fifteen days, "and that he has a right to apply for a writ of habeas corpus, or other like process." A fugitive apprehended on a provisional warrant may be remanded from time to time, for not longer than seven days at one time, as under the circumstances seems requisite for the production of an endorsed warrant." On the expiration of 66 fifteen days after the fugitive has been committed to prison (or, Return of when a writ of habeas corpus has been issued by a superior Court), warrant (s. 6). fugitive by Her Majesty's representative may, if he thinks just, by warrant under his hand order the fugitive to be held in custody by the person to whom the warrant is addressed, and to be conveyed to the country from which he is a fugitive, "to be dealt with there in due course of law as if he had been there apprehended." "The governor or other chief officer of any prison" shall, on payment of expenses, receive and detain the fugitive for a reasonable time at the request of the person to whom the warrant is addressed, for the purpose of the proper execution of it. not returned in one month If a fugitive has been committed to prison by a Consular Discharge if Judge, and is not conveyed out of the foreign country within a month after his committal, "a superior Court" may on the (s. 7). fugitive's application order him to be discharged, unless sufficient cause is shewn to the contrary. Notice of the intention to apply for the discharge is to be given to Her Majesty's representative. not prose Where the person accused of an offence and returned to Persons the country in which the Consular Court exists, either is not returned if prosecuted there within six months after his arrival, or is cuted to be acquitted, Her Majesty's representative may cause him to be sent back sent back free of cost, and with as little delay as possible, to the country in or on his way to which he was apprehended. (s. 8). Offences to which the Act applies (s. 9). The offences to which the Act applies are treason, piracy, and every offence which is punishable in the part of Her Majesty's dominions in which it was committed, or according to the law administered by the Consular Court established in the country in which it was committed, "by imprisonment with hard labour for a term of twelve months or more, or by any greater punishment." The question whether the act is an offence or not is to be judged solely by this law, and not in any way by the law of the country, or by the law administered in the country, where the fugitive is apprehended. Where it appears to a superior Discharge of Court that the case is trivial, or that the application for the return fugitive when of the fugitive is not made in good faith, and that it would, or return having regard to the distance, to the facilities for communication, unjust (s. 10). and to all the circumstances of the case, be unjust or oppressive or too severe a punishment to return the fugitive either at all, or until the expiration of a certain period, the Court may discharge him either absolutely or on bail, or may order that he shall not be returned until after the expiration of a certain period, or may make any other order that may seem to it just. case frivolous Part II. Groups of Backing warrants (ss. 13-16). Witnesses. Discharge of Sending back Refusal to The second part of the Act providing a simpler procedure applies only to those groups of British possessions, or foreign countries in which Consular Courts have been established, or of British possessions and foreign countries combined, " to which, by reason of their contiguity or otherwise, it may seem expedient to Her Majesty to apply the same." The application is to be made by Order in Council, and certain offences may be excepted from the application, or it may be otherwise limited, as may be deemed expedient. In the countries or Colonies included in the group, a magistrate is empowered to back a warrant issued for the apprehension of a fugitive offender by the proper authority in any other country or Colony in the group, and may order his return in custody. He is also empowered to issue provisional warrants. In the same way, witnesses who are required to give evidence on a trial for any offence in one of the countries or Colonies in the group, and who are, or are suspected of being, in or on their way to any other country or Colony in the group, may be summoned as if they were within the jurisdiction of the Court before which the trial is taking place, and the summons may be endorsed by a magistrate in any other country or Colony in the group. The witness, on service of the endorsed summons, and payment or tender of a reasonable sum for expenses, must obey the summons; in default he is liable to be tried and punished either in the country or Colony in which he was served, or in which the summons was issued, according to the law enforced by the Court before which he is tried. A magistrate may, in the group, order the fugitive to be discharged out of custody if he is not conveyed out of the country or Colony within one month after the date of the warrant ordering his return. Notice of the application is to be given to the person holding the warrant, and to the chief of the police where the fugitive is in custody. A refusal to grant the order is subject to appeal to a superior Court. The power to order the free return of a prisoner accused of an offence for which he is not prosecuted within six months, or of which he is acquitted, remains with the Governor of the Colony, or Her Majesty's representative in the foreign country. The power to refuse the fugitive's return where the offence return (s. 19). is trivial, and in the other cases already mentioned, is vested in the magistrate or in a superior Court. Part III. Where two Colonies, or two foreign countries in which Consular jurisdiction exists, or a Colony and such a foreign offences country, adjoin, a person accused of an offence committed on or Boundary within five hundred yards from the common boundary may be (s. 20). apprehended, tried, and punished in either. (s. 21). Where an offence is committed on any person, or in respect of Offences, any property in any vehicle employed in a journey, or on board journey any vessel employed in a navigable river, lake, canal, or inland navigation, the person accused may be tried in any British possession, or by the Consular Court in any foreign country, through a part of which the vehicle or vessel passed in the course of the journey during which the offence was committed; "and, where the side, bank, centre, or other part of the road, river, lake, canal, or inland navigation along which the carriage, cart, vehicle, or vessel passed in the course of such journey or voyage is the boundary of any British possession," or of any country in which there is a Consular Court, the offence may be tried in the possession or country of which it is the boundary. The section does not authorize the trial of persons who are not British subjects, where it is not shown that the offence was committed in a British possession. The trial of the offence of false swearing or giving false Trial of false evidence for the purposes of the Act may take place in the swearing (s. 22). country or Colony where the offence was committed, or where the evidence was used. committed in Where the Act provides for the place of trial of a person Offence accused of an offence, the offence is to be deemed, for all deemed to be purposes, to have been committed in the place where it may place of trial be tried; and sentence is to be passed accordingly. But if the (s. 23). offence is not punishable by the law administered by the Court where the trial takes place, sentence is to be passed as nearly as possible corresponding to the punishment which would have been inflicted according to the law of England. [Courts (Colonial) Jurisdiction Act, 1874, 37 & 38 Vict. c. 27.] search A Court in which a warrant is endorsed, or an accused person Issue of can be tried under the Act, has the same power to issue a warrant warrant to search for property alleged to have been stolen, or (s. 24). otherwise unlawfully taken by the accused, or otherwise to be the subject of the offence, as if the property had been stolen or the offence had been wholly committed within the jurisdiction of the Court. sea (s. 25). A fugitive or a prisoner may be conveyed by sea from one Removal of place to another in pursuance of this Act, either in a vessel prisoner by belonging to Her Majesty or to any British subject; and legal custody is deemed to continue throughout the voyage. All the Endorsement Part IV. Conveyance of fugitives provisions of the Act relative to escape apply to escapes during the voyage. The signed endorsement of a warrant is sufficient authority to the person named in the endorsement, and to those to whom it was originally directed, and also to every constable, to execute the warrant in the place over which the person endorsing has authority or jurisdiction. The authority who signs the warrant may, on tender of the reasonable expenses, order the master of a ship belonging to a and witnesses British subject, to afford passage and subsistence for prisoners (s. 27). Escape of prisoner (s. 28). Evidence (s. 29). Jurisdiction (s. 30). under the Act, and the persons who have them in custody, and also for witnesses subpoenaed under the Act. The master is subject to a penalty of £50 for refusal to comply with the order: he is, however, not compelled to receive more than one prisoner for every hundred tons of the ship's registered tonnage, or more than one witness for every fifty tons. Such particulars as the Board of Trade may require are to be endorsed upon the agreement of the ship. If the prisoner is not in the custody of any person, the master is to hand him over to a constable on arrival in port. An escaped prisoner may be retaken in the country or Colony to which he escapes as if he had been originally taken into custody there. The offences of escaping or attempting to escape, or of aiding or attempting to aid an escape, by breach of prison or otherwise, may be tried either in the country or Colony— (a) from which the prisoner is being removed: or (c) to which he escapes: or (d) in which he is found. Depositions may, for the purposes of the Act, be taken in the absence of a person accused of an offence; and may, if duly authenticated, be received in evidence in proceedings under the Act; but they are not to be used in evidence upon the trial. The jurisdiction to hear a case and commit a fugitive to prison to await his return is to be exercised (1) In England, by the chief magistrate of the Metropolitan Police Courts, or one of the other magistrates of the Metropolitan Police Court at Bow Street; and (2) In Scotland, by the sheriff or sheriff-substitute of the County of Edinburgh; and (3) In Ireland, by one of the police magistrates of the Dublin metropolitan police district; and |