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Treaty between Great Britain and Denmark, for the Mutual Surrender of Fugitive Criminals [1873] CATSer 2 (7 July 1873)

E101284

TREATY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND DENMARK, FOR THE MUTUAL SURRENDER OF FUGITIVE CRIMINALS

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of Denmark having judged it expedient, with a view to the better administration of justice and to the prevention of crime within their respective territories and jurisdictions, that person charged with or convicted of the crimes hereinafter enumerated and being fugitives from justice, should, under certain circumstances, be reciprocally delivered up; their said Majesties have named as their Plenipotentiaries to conclude a Treaty for this purpose, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Sir Charles Lennox Wyke, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, her Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of Denmark;

And His Majesty the King of Denmark, Baron Otto Ditley Rosenorn-Lehn, Knight Commander of the Order of the Danebrog and Danebrogsmand, His Majesty’s Minister for Foreign Affairs;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:

ARTICLE I

It is agreed that Her Britannic Majesty and His Majesty the King of Denmark shall, on requisition made in their name by their respective Diplomatic Agents, deliver up to each other reciprocally any persons, except native born or naturalised subjects of the party upon whom the requisition may be made, who, being accused or convicted of any of the crimes hereinafter specified, committed within the territories of the requiring party, shall be found within the territories of the other party:

1. Murder, or attempt or conspiracy to murder.

2. Manslaughter.

3. Counterfeiting or altering money, or uttering counterfeit or altered money.

4. Forgery, or counterfeiting, or altering, or uttering what is forged, or counterfeited, or altered.

5. Embezzlement or larceny.

6. Obtaining money or goods by false pretences.

7. Crimes by bankrupts against bankruptcy law.

8. Fraud by a bailee, banker, agent, factor, trustee, or director, or member or public officer of any company, made criminal by any law for the time being in force.

9. Rape.

10. Abduction.

11. Child-stealing.

12. Burglary or housebreaking.

13. Arson.

14. Robbery with violence.

15. Threats, by letter or otherwise, with intent to extort.

16. Piracy by law of nations.

17. Sinking or destroying a vessel at sea, or attempting or conspiring to do so.

18. Assaults on board a ship on the high seas with intent to destroy life or to do grievous bodily harm.

19. Revolt, or conspiracy to revolt, by two or more persons on board a ship on the high seas against the authority of the master.

Provided that the surrender shall be made only when, in the case of a person accused, the commission of the crime shall be so established as that the laws of the country where the fugitive or person so accused shall be found would justify his apprehension and commitment for trial if the crime had been there committed; and, in the case of a person alleged to have been convicted, on such evidence as, according to the laws of the country where he is found, would prove that he had been convicted.

ARTICLE II

In the dominions of Her Britannic Majesty, other than the colonies or foreign possessions of Her Majesty, the manner of proceeding shall be as follows:

1. In the case of a person accused:

The requisition for the surrender shall be made to Her Britannic Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs by the Minister or other Diplomatic Agent of His Majesty the King of Denmark at London, accompanied by (1) a warrant or other equivalent judicial document for the arrest of the accused, issued by a judge or magistrate duly authorised to take cognizance of the acts charged against him in Denmark; (2) duly authenticated depositions or statements taken on oath before such judge or magistrate, clearly setting forth the acts on account of which the fugitive is demanded; and (3) a description of the person claimed, and any other particulars which may serve to identify him. The said Secretary of State shall transmit such documents to Her Britannic Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, who shall then, by order under his hand and seal, signify to some police magistrate in London that such requisition has been made, and require him, if there be due cause, to issue his warrant for the apprehension of the fugitive.

On the receipt of such order from the Secretary of State, and on the production of such evidence as would, in the opinion of the magistrate, justify the issue of the warrant if the crime had been committed in the United Kingdom, he shall issue his warrant accordingly.

When the fugitive shall have been apprehended in virtue of such warrant, he shall be brought before the police magistrate who issued it, or some other police magistrate in London. If the evidence to be then produced shall be such as to justify, according to the law of England, the committal for trial of the prisoner if the crime for which he is accused had been committed in England, the police magistrate shall commit him to prison to await the warrant of the Secretary of State for his surrender; sending immediately to the Secretary of State a certificate of the committal and a report upon the case.

After the expiration of a period from the committal of the prisoner, which shall never be less than 15 days, the Secretary of State shall, by order under his hand and seal, order the fugitive criminal to be surrendered to such person as may be duly authorised to receive him on the part of the Government of His Majesty the King of Denmark.

2. In the case of a person convicted:

The course of proceeding shall be the same as in the preceding case of a person accused, except that the document to be produced by the Minister or other Diplomatic Agent of His Danish Majesty in support of his requisition shall clearly set forth the crime of which the person claimed has been convicted, and state the fact, place, and date of his conviction. The evidence to be produced before the police magistrate shall be such as would, according to the law of England, prove that the prisoner was convicted of the crime charged.

After the police magistrate shall have committed the accused or convicted person to prison to await the order of a Secretary of State for his surrender, such person shall have the right to apply for a writ of habeas corpus. If he should so apply, his surrender must be deferred until after the decision of the court upon the return to the writ, and even then can only take place if the decision is adverse to the applicant. In the latter case the court may at once order his delivery to the person authorized to receive him, without the order of a Secretary of State for his surrender, or commit him to prison to await such order.

ARTICLE III

In the dominions of His Majesty the King of Denmark other than the colonies or foreign possessions of his said Majesty, the manner of proceeding shall be as follows:

1. In the case of a person accused:

The requisition for the surrender shall be made to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the King of Denmark by the Minister or other Diplomatic Agent of Her Britannic Majesty at Copenhagen, accompanied by (1) a warrant for the arrest of the accused, issued by a judge or magistrate duly authorised to take cognizance of the acts charged against him in Great Britain; (2) duly authenticated depositions or statements taken on oath before such judge or magistrate, clearly setting forth the acts on account of which the fugitive is demanded; and (3) a description of the person claimed, and any other particulars which may serve to identify him.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the King of Denmark shall transmit such requisition for surrender to the Minister of Justice of His Majesty the King of Denmark, who, after having ascertained that the crime therein specified is one of those enumerated in the present Treaty, and satisfied himself that the evidence produced is such as, according to Danish law, would justify the committal for trial of the individual demanded, if the crime had been committed in Denmark, shall take the necessary measures for causing the fugitive to be delivered to the person charged to receive him by the Government of Her Britannic Majesty.

2. In the case of a person convicted:

The course of proceeding shall be the same as in the preceding case of a person accused, except that the warrant to be transmitted by the Minister or other Diplomatic Agent of Her Britannic Majesty in support of his requisition, shall clearly set forth the crime of which the person claimed has been convicted, and state the fact, place, and date of his conviction. The evidence to be produced shall be such as would, according to the laws of Denmark, prove that the prisoner was convicted of the crime charged.

ARTICLE IV

A fugitive criminal may, however, be apprehended under a warrant issued by any police magistrate, justice of the peace, or other competent authority in either country, on such information or complaint, and such evidence, or after such proceedings as would, in the opinion of the person issuing the warrant, justify the issue of a warrant, if the crime had been committed or the prisoner convicted, in that part of the dominions of the two Contracting Parties in which he exercises jurisdiction: provided, however, that in the United Kingdom the accused shall, in such case, be sent as speedily as possible before a police magistrate in London; and that in the dominions of His Majesty the King of Denmark the case shall be immediately submitted to the Minister of Justice of His Majesty the King of Denmark; and provided, also, that the individual arrested shall in either country be discharged if within 15 days a requisition shall not have been made for his surrender by the Diplomatic Agent of his country, in the manner directed by Articles II and III of this Treaty.

The same rule shall apply to the cases of persons accused or convicted of any of the crimes specified in this Treaty, committed on the high seas, on board a vessel of either country, which may come into a port of the other.

ARTICLE V

If the fugitive criminal who has been committed to prison be not surrendered and conveyed away within two months after such committal (or within two months after the decision of the court, upon the return to a writ of habeas corpus in the United Kingdom), he shall be discharged from custody, unless sufficient cause be shown to the contrary.

ARTICLE VI

When any person shall have been surrendered by either of the High Contracting Parties to the other, such person shall not, until he has been restored or had an opportunity of returning to the country from whence he was surrendered, be triable or tried for any offence committed in the other country prior to the surrender, other than the particular offence on account of which he was surrendered.

ARTICLE VII

No accused or convicted person shall be surrendered, if the offence in respect of which his surrender is demanded shall be deemed by the Government upon which it is made to be one of a political character, or if in the United Kingdom he prove to the satisfaction of the police magistrate, or of the court before which he is brought on habeas corpus, or to the Secretary of State, or in Denmark, to the satisfaction of the Minister of Justice of His Majesty the King of Denmark, that the requisition for his surrender has, in fact, been made with a view to try or to punish him for an offence of a political character.

ARTICLE VIII

Warrants, depositions, or statements on oath, issued or taken in the dominions of either of the two High Contracting Parties, and copies thereof, and certificates of or judicial documents stating the fact of conviction, shall be received in evidence in proceedings in the dominions of the other, if purporting to be signed or certified by a judge, magistrate, or officer of the country where they were issued or taken, and provided they are authenticated by the oath of some witness, or by being sealed with the official seal of the Minister of Justice or some other Minister of State.

ARTICLE IX

The surrender shall not take place if, since the commission of the acts charged, the accusation, or the conviction, exemption from prosecution or punishment has been acquired by lapse of time, according to the laws of the country where the accused or convicted person shall have taken refuge.

ARTICLE X

If the individual claimed should be under prosecution, or in custody, for a crime or offence committed in the country where he may have taken refuge, his surrender may be deferred until he shall have been set at liberty in due course of law.

In case he should be proceeded against or detained in such country on account of obligations contracted towards private individuals, his surrender shall nevertheless take place, the injured party retaining his right to prosecute his claims before the competent authority.

ARTICLE XI

Every article found in the possession of the individual claimed at the time of his arrest, shall be seized, in order to be delivered up with his person at the time when the surrender shall be made. Such delivery shall not be limited to the property or articles obtained by stealing or by fraudulent bankruptcy, but shall extend to every thing that may serve as proof of the crime. It shall take place even when the surrender, after having been ordered, shall be prevented from taking place by reason of the escape or death of the individual claimed.

ARTICLE XII

Each of the two Contracting Parties shall defray the expenses occasioned by the arrest within its territories, the detention, and the conveyance to the frontier of the persons whom it may consent to surrender in pursuance of the present Treaty.

ARTICLE XIII

The stipulations of the present Treaty shall be applicable to the colonies or foreign possessions of the two High Contracting Parties, in the following manner:

The requisition for the surrender of a fugitive criminal who has taken refuge in a colony or foreign possession of either of the two Contracting Parties, shall be made to the Governor or chief authority of such colony or possession by the Chief Consular Officer of the other Party in such colony or possession; or if the fugitive has escaped from a colony or foreign possession of the party on whose behalf the requisition is made, by the Governor or chief authority of such colony or possession.

Such requisition may be disposed of, subject always, as nearly as may be, to the provisions of this Treaty, by the respective Governors or chief authorities, who, however, shall be at liberty either to grant the surrender or to refer the matter to their Government.

Her Britannic Majesty and His Majesty the King of Denmark shall, however, be at liberty to make special arrangements in their colonies and foreign possessions for the surrender of criminals who may take refuge therein, on the basis, as nearly as may be, of the provisions of the present Treaty.

ARTICLE XIV

The present Treaty shall come into operation 10 days after its publication, in conformity with the forms prescribed by the laws of the High Contracting Parties.

After the Treaty shall so have been brought into operation, the Convention concluded between the High Contracting Parties on the 15^th of April, 1862, shall be considered as cancelled, except as to any proceeding that may have already been taken or commenced in virtue thereof.

Either party may, at any time, terminate the Treaty on giving to the other 6 months’ notice of its intention.

ARTICLE XV

The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratification shall be exchanged at Copenhagen as soon as may be within 4 weeks from the date of signature.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms.

DONE at Copenhagen, the 31^st day of March, in the year of Our Lord, 1873.

Charles Lennox Wyke

O. D. Rosenorn-Lehn