R
سيليا
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
qualifié et contrairement aux prescriptions de la Contention conclue à cet effet entre les deux pays, l'extradition doit être considérée comme nulle.
Par voie de consé- quence, cette annulation rend nul également l'ensemble de la procédure suivie contre les Dans accusés en territoire britannique et les condamnations prononcées contre eux. ces conditions, si le gouvernement britannique veut bien déclarer qui lui aussi considère comme nulles l'extradition et les condamnations qui s'en sont suivies, et maintenir la plainte qu'il a déposée contre eux pour le meurtre d'Argoungou, les nommés Bendart, Buret et Desemblanc, tombant sous le coup de l'article 5 du Code d'Instruction Criminelle français comme accusés d'un crime commis hors du territoire et pour lequel ils n'auront pas encore été définitivement jugés, seront poursuivis de ce chef devant nos tribunaux.
L'affaire serait alors déferée à la juridiction compétente par le Ministère Public et c'est dans ce sens que des instructions seraient donnés à Monsieur le Gouverneur Général de l'Afrique Occidentale française.
J'ajoute que, dans le cas présent, la juridiction compétente sera la juridiction militaire, car les inculpés sont déserteurs de l'armée, et bien qu'ils soient appelés à bénéficier de la loi d'amnistie pour le fait de désertion, ils auront, dès leur rentrée sur le territoire français, à être réintégrés au régiment pour compléter le temps de service qu'ils avaient à faire au moment où ils ont déserté.
En me chargeant de porter à la connaissance de Votre Seigneurie les informations ci-dessus, mon gouvernement m'exprime le désir d'être avisé le plus promptement possible de la décision qu'aura prise le Gouvernement de Sa Majesté. Il est tout disposé, pour sa part, et afin d'éviter les conséquences que pourrait avoir pour les accusés, en raison du climat local la prolongation de leur détention à Jebba, à donner par câble toutes les instructions nécessaires aux autorités françaises dans l'Afrique Occidentale.
Sa Seigneurie
Le Marquis de Lansdowne, K.G.
Veuillez agréer, &c.,
GEOFFRAY.
13790.
No. 139.
(STRAITS SETTLEMENTS ;. NATIVE STATES.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
[Mutual surrender of fugitive criminals between the Federated Malay States and Siam.]
Royal Courts of Justice, SIR,
April 9, 1902. WE were honoured with your commands signified to us in Mr. Lucas's letter of the 25th February last, stating that he was directed to lay before us a letter dated the 7th February addressed to the Colonial Office by the Foreign Office, together with all the enclosures therein referred to, and was to request the favour of our Report upon various questions in connection with the mutual surrender of fugitive criminals between the Federated Malay States and Siam.
That the printed copy of the "Correspondence relative to the mutual surrender of fugitive criminals between the Federated Malay States and Siam" sets out at length the various points which had arisen and had been discussed both between the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office, and departmentally in the Foreign Office.
That with regard to paragraph 4 of Mr. Villiers's letter dealing with the list of offences scheduled to the Pahang Enactment No. 12 of 1901, Mr. Lucas was to point out that the phraseology employed was that of the Penal Code of the Federated Malay States, Section 435 of which, for example, provided for "Mischief by Fire," the offence of "Arson" being unknown to the Code, as also was "Larceny."
That Mr. Lucas was to request us to take these papers into our consideration, and to report :-
1. Whether natives of the Federated Malay States should or should not be regarded as British protected persons" when within the dominions of His Majesty the King of Siam, ard as such subject to the jurisdiction of the British Consular Courts rather than to that of the Siamese Courts ?
2. Whether we concurred in the terms of the Draft Agreement as finally settled by
the Foreign Office, and forwarded as a separate enclosure with Mr. Villiers's letter, and if not, in what respects they should be amended?
3. Whether the Enactments (4 of 1900 of Perak, and 12 of 1901 of Pahang) might, subject to the substitution of the term "surrender" for "extradition," be approved, or whether they should be amended in any other, and if so, in what particulars ?
We were also honoured with your further commands contained in Mr. Graham's letter of the 15th ultimo, transmitting to us in original a letter from F.O., 12th March. the Foreign Office, and asking that we would take it into consideration with the correspondence enclosed in Mr. Lucas's letter of the 25th February.
In obedience to your commands we have taken the papers into our consideration, and
have the honour to
Report-
1. That so far as we can gather from the information supplied to us, and especially from the telegram from Mr. Tower of the 31st January, 1902, and the documents referred to in his letter dated the 1st February, 1902, the natives of the Federated Malay States have not hitherto been regarded as British protected persons when within the dominions of the King of Siam.
This result has no doubt arisen from the fact that no definite jurisdiction is exercised by His Majesty's Government in the Federated Malay States, and from the peculiar relations of His Majesty's Government towards these States which place them in a different position from other protectorates.
We think that the policy hitherto observed of not regarding the natives of the Federated Malay States as British protected persons is right, and we see no reason why it should be altered.
2. We see no objection to the Draft Agreement from a legal point of view, provided that the list of offences corresponds with the Penal Codes of the States.
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