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the
not enough for it to appear to the court that returning the fugitive would be unjust or oppressive; injustice or oppression must arise by reason of the passage of time, that is to say it must be caused by the passage of time. The difficulty is in seeing exactly what effect is to be given to the words 'having regard to all the circumstances.' At one stage of the argument for the respondents it was suggested that, provided there had been a passage of a considerable period of time, any circumstance at all that had arisen during that period was relevant and material. I reject that argument because it overlooks the provision that the injustice must have been caused by the passage of time. On the other hand it was argued on behalf of the appellants that the only circumstances that could be relevant were circumstances which were themselves caused by the passage of time. I reject that view as too limited. The importance of the provision that regard is to be had to all the circumstances is, in my opinion, that it requires the court to consider all the circumstances of the particular applicant and not to apply any general rule of thumb. But it is only if the passage of time, operating in those particular
circumstances, would cause injustice or oppression that the condition for the court to make an order is
satisfied.
I
It seems to me that the only circumstances in which passage of time can operate must be circumstances having some connection with the passage of time. respectfully agree with the observations of Lord Parker C.J. in Reg. v. Governor of Pentonville Prison, Ex parte Teja [1971] 2 Q.B. 274, 290. I have no intention of making an exhaustive list of such circumstances but I think that they would include the reasons for the passage of time since the offence; if the reason was that the requesting government had been dilatory, then the passage of time would tell in favour of the fugitive as in Reg. v. Governor of Brixton Prison, Ex parte Naranjan Singh [1962] 1 Q.B. 211-- but if the passage of time was inevitable as in In re Henderson [1950] 1 All E.R. 283 - it would not. Other relevant circumstances might be the age of the appellant, and whether he has settled in the United Kingdom: see Reg. v. Governor of Brixton Prison, Ex parte Naranjan Singh."
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In addition to those passages from that speech, it is
significant to note that two of their Lordships adopted and
approved of the words of Tucker L.J.in Re Henderson [1950] 1
H
8