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Fugitive offenders Act unchanged, with the result, if we are not careful,
not careful, that there will be
that there will be an effective system for foreign states, and a second rate one for Commonwealth countries, who are regarded traditionally as our nearest neighbours. So my second point is, if we are going to have reforms; please let us have them now for all states; not just a piecemeal reform for foreign countries.
So far as the proposed reforms are concerned, most are sensible and long overdue.. Signing the European Convention on Extradition, adopting the enumerative classification of crimes and specifically including tax offences, enabling voluntary return, present no major obstacles so long as the conduct for which surrender is sought is criminal in both countries and the requested country would have granted extradition in corresponding circumstances. When I speak of no major obstacles, I deliberately ignore the problem of extraterritoriality to which I have already referred.
What I am unhappy about, is the abolition of the "evidence rule", and it is to that question that I would like to address your thoughts for a few moments. Please note, that if I am right, there is no proposal to abolish it for Commonwealth countreies, and as I understand it, the Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministers in 1983, expressly decided to retain it.
As a practitioner, I believe the "evidence rule" has been unjustly blamed for the failure of the current legislation. As was demonstrated by Lord Roskill in his recent "Report on Fraud Trials", it is the English rules of evidence that are the culprit. To these must be added, until recently a certain lack of enthusiasm by prosecuting authorities and failure by the courts to interpret the legislation so that it worked.
The" evidence rule", as it is called, requires requesting states to submit
to submit evidence
evidence (1), complying with the English rules of evidence, and (2), sufficient to warrant committal for trial of an accused in ordinary domestic procededings. The Government's proposed alternative is that instead of requesting states submitting evidence in the form of authenticated witness statements, they may submit a foreign warrant and merely a narrative statement of the offence,
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