12
Fugitive Offenders.
[39 VICT]
12
A.D. 1876.
Expense of
return of
offenders to
And all courts and magistrates shall take judicial notice of such official seal, and shall admit the documents authenticated by it to be received in evidence without further proof.
10. The expenses properly incurred of and incidental to the apprehension and return of a fugitive offender to the United Kingdom, 5 shall, whatever is the nature of the offence, be paid in like manner as the expenses of the prosecution in England and Ireland of felony and Vict., 3. in Seqtland of a crime are paid.
United Kingdon. See 6 & 7
- R.
Offences to which this
11. This part of this Act shall apply to the following offences, part of this namely, to treason, felony, and piracy, and also to any misdemeanor 10 Act applies. punishable on indictment by penal servitude or by imprisonment with hard labour for a term of (not less than) six months or more, and also to the offence of conspiring or attempting to commit any of the above- mentioned offences, and also to the offence of counselling, procuring, commanding, aiding, or abetting, or being an accessory before or after 15 the fact to any of the above-mentioned offences.
Powers of superior
court to
discharge
offender when case frivolous or return nu- just.
Application
of Act to
Ireland.
See 6 & 7 Việt. C. 34.
This Act shall apply to an offence notwithstanding that by the law of the part of Her Majesty's dominions in which the offender is or is suspected of being it is not an offence, or not an offence to which this part of this Act applies.
90
20
Where by reason of the law of a British possession differing from the law of the United Kingdom any doubt arises as to the offences in such British possession to which this part of this Act applies, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time by Order in Council to declare what offences in that British possession shall be 25 deemed to be within the meaning of this section.
12. Where it is made to appear to a superior court, that by reason of the trivial nature of the offence, or of the application for the return of an offender not being made in good faith in the interest of justice, or otherwise, it would be unjust or oppressive to 30 the offender to return him either at all or until the expiration of a certain period, such court may discharge the offender from prison, or order that he shall not be returned until after the expiration of the period named in the order, or may make such other order in the premises as to the court seems just.
13. The chief secretary of the lord lieutenant or other chief governor of Ireland may, as well as a Secretary of State, cxecute any portion of the powers by this part of this Act vested in a Secretary of State.
35
Note to clause 10.
This clause omits the method prescribed by a. 8 of the existing Act, for ascertaining the amount of the expenses. It seems better to leave it to the ordinary law respecting other expenses of prosecutions.
Note to clause 11.
The definition of the offences to which the Bill is to apply is a matter of some difficulty and importance.
There can, I presume, be no doubt that the Act should extend to piracy as well as to the crimes (in the existing Act) of treason and felony.
As regards misdemeanors, every disobedience of an Act of Parliament is a mis- demeanor, punishable with unlimited fine and imprisonment. Consequently as the Bill is intended only to apply to offences of some gravity, it is impossible to make it apply to every misdemeanor. It is suggested that hard labour for a certain period is the best practical test for determining an offence sufficiently serious to be brought under the Bill.
"Indictable" is added, because some offences which are technically misdemeanors are punishable on summary conviction.
On the other hand, there are some very serious offences, such as certain conspiracies or attempts to commit offences, which clearly ought to be within the Bill, but which, being only offences at common law, are not punishable with hard labour. For this reason they have been expressly added.
If the definition of the offence were, as in the existing Act, to depend upon the nature of the offence if committed in England, the difficulty of the definition would be diminished, but I apprehend that there are offences peculiar to certain colonies to which it is intended that the Bill should apply, and which, therefore, must be brought if possible within the definition.
I am not aware whether the expressions "misdemeanor" and "indictable" and "hard labour" are applicable in all colonies; probably they are not. For this reason I have suggested that the Queen in Council should have power to explain the meaning of this section as regards colonial offences.
The existing Act applies expressly to treason, and I presume that no difficulty will arise (as in the Extradition Act) with respect to offences of a political character.
Under the Extradition Act an offence must be an offence by the law of the country
in which it was committed and of the country in which the offender is found. This is hardly applicable to the case of a colony, and is expressly negatived by the clause.
Note to clause 12.
As some offences are according to the circumstances very serious or very trivial, and the machinery of the Bill may possibly be used in a trivial case (e.g., a slight assault) oppressively or for improper purposes, this clause has been inverted to enable the court to prevent this injustice.
The objection to it is that it seems to throw doubt upon the justice of the Bill, and the propriety of the definition of offences in the previous clause.
Note to clause 13.
Under the existing Act the Secretary of State has no authority to endorse a warrant in Ireland, or to issue a warrant for the return of a fugitive when committed for trial in Ireland. This is anomalous, as the Lord Lieutenant and chief secretary are tech-
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