2
criminal
who is in or
(1) The requisition for the surrender of
surrender of a fugitive
suspected of being in a
British
possession may be made to the Governor of that British
possession etc.
surrender
In
Your suggestion, as I understand it,that that gave the person
seeking the
of a fugitive criminal an option.
paragraph 6 of your letter you indicate that
letter you indicate that this is how you
think the procedure ought to operate now. The first question is
whether the procedure has operated like this in the past. You
will appreciate that we do not know what has in fact happened.
All we can attempt to do is to construe section 17(1).
It seems to us that it has two conceivable meanings.
The first is the one that you suggest yourself.
The second is the one that we,
one that we, with respect, prefer. There is
always a certain amount of difficulty in construing an Act of
Parliament from the middle of the nineteenth century. Ideas of
drafting have changed, and it is not always easy to see how the
draftsman's mind worked. But we would suggest that on this
occasion one can see. The thought surely is that, if a fugitive
criminal is suspected of being in the United Kingdom, the proper
course is for a diplomatic representative of a foreign state
wanting his surrender to make a requisition to the Secretary of
State. Section 7 says that the requisition "shall be made to a
But we suggest that this is merely pointing
Secretary of State".