4297.
No. 335.
(BAHAMAS)
I
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.
Lincoln's Inn, May 5, 1865. MY LORD,
We are honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Mr. Hammond's letter of the 2nd instant,* stating that with reference to our Report of the 7th ultimo respecting the case of Verdon (or Vernon) Locke, he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us, together with the previous papers, a letter and its enclosures from the Colonial Office on the subject of a requisition made by the United States Government through Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Washington, for the surrender of Locke on charges of piracy and murder, arising out of the case of the "Chesapeake," and to request that we would take these papers into consideration and furnish your Lordship with our opinion as to any instructions which it will be proper to send to the Governor of the Bahamas thereupon; and that we should observe that it is stated in the letter from the Colonial Office that the mail for the Bahamas will be despatched on Saturday next.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have taken these papers into con- sideration, and have the honour to
Report
That in our opinion the Governor of the Bahamas has taken a correct view of his immediate duty in this case. When a demand is duly made for the extradition of a person who is himself already under arrest and about to be tried for an offence against British law, or who is undergoing his sentence after a conviction for any such offence, the trial for that offence ought to take place, and the sentence (if any) ought to be undergone, before it can be necessary or proper to deliver up such accused person to the foreign Government demanding his extradition, and the proceedings with a view to his extradition ought to be regulated by these considerations, though care should of course be taken to avoid any such delay as would enable such an accused person who was in custody or within the power of the British authorities when the demand was made afterwards to escape before the necessary warrants for his detention under the charge made by the foreign Government were issued and executed.
J
With respect to the remarks of the Governor of the Bahamas upon the form of Mr. Seward's requisition of the 6th of March 1865, it is desirable, we think, to point out that the Statute 6 & 7 Vict. c. 76 requires in all cases of extradition by any British Colonial authorities two warrants, the first being the Governor's own warrant, which is necessary to enable any justice of the peace to deal with the case, but which is not itself sufficient to authorise the apprehension of the alleged offender, and the second being that of "a "justice of tho peace or other person having power to commit for trial persons accused "of crime against the laws of that part of Her Majesty's dominions," under which alone the prisoner may be actually apprehended and committed to gaol.
The Statute authorises the Governor to issue his preliminary warrant upon any request proceeding from the United States Government, which is in substance "a requi- sition for the delivery of any person charged with the crime of (inter alia) murder or piracy committed within the jurisdiction of the United States who shall be found " within the territories of Her Majesty," and although it is desirable that every such requisition should (as has been hitherto usual) be in such a form as upon the face of it to show all facts necessary for the commission of the alleged crime within United States jurisdiction, and though it is expedient, whenever opportunity offers, to call attention to the informality of any such requisition which may appear to deviate from that usual and desirable practice, we think (as we have before advised), that it is better for the Governor to issue his warrant upon a requisition defective in form, but not manifestly improper in substance, than to withhold it, because no final injustice can be done by his so granting it, and the responsibility for any risk of a failure of the subsequent proceedings on that account will rest with the United States Government, while on the other hand, the refusal of the Governor might perhaps frustrate the object of the demand, and (if grounded on reasons not clearly authorised by the terms
* No. 326.
0 16978-976. 25.-2/86.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PLC.O. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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