Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Canadian Treaty Series

Treaty between Great Britain and Austria, for the Mutual Surrender of Fugitive Criminals [1874] CATSer 1 (30 March 1874)

E101282

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

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, &c., and Apostolic King of Hungary, having judged it expedient, with a view to the better administration of justice and to the prevention of crime within the two countries and their jurisdictions that persons 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 it so say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Sir Andrew Buchanan, a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty;

And His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, the Count Julius Andrassy of Csik-Szent-Király and Kraszna Horka, His Imperial and Royal Majesty's Privy Councillor, Minister of the Imperial House and of Foreign Affairs, Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, &c.;

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

ARTICLE I

The High Contracting Parties engage to deliver up to each other those persons who, being accused or convicted of a crime committed in the territory of the one Party, shall be found within the territory of the other Party under the circumstances and conditions stated in the present Treaty.

ARTICLE II

The crimes for which the extradition is to be granted are the following:

1. Murder, or attempt to murder.

2. Manslaughter.

3. Counterfeiting or altering money, uttering or bringing into circulation counterfeit or altered money.

4. Forgery or counterfeiting, or altering or uttering what is forged or counterfeited or altered; comprehending the crimes designated in the Austrian Penal Laws or in the Hungarian Penal Laws and Customs as counterfeiting or falsification of paper money, bank notes, or other securities, forgery or falsification of other public or private documents, likewise the uttering or bringing into circulation, or wilfully using such counterfeited, forged, or falsified papers.

The definition is to be determined accordingly with the Austrian Penal Laws if the extradition shall take place from Austria, and accordingly with the Hungarian Penal Laws and Customs if the extradition shall take place from Hungary.

5. Embezzlement or larceny.

6. Obtaining money or goods by false pretences.

7. Crimes against bankruptcy law: comprehending the crimes considered as frauds committed by the bankrupt in connection with the bankruptcy, according with the Austrian Penal Laws if the extradition shall take place from Austria, and with the Hungarian Penal Laws if the extradition shall take place from Hungary.

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, kidnapping, and false imprisonment.

12. Burglary or housebreaking.

13. Arson.

14. Robbery with violence or with menaces.

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

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

17. Assaults onboard a ship on the high seas, with intent to destroy life, or to do grievous bodily harm.

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

19. Perjury or subornation of perjury.

20. Malicious injury to property, if the offence be indictable.

The extradition is also to take place for participation in any of the aforesaid crimes, as accessory either before or after the fact provided such participation be punishable by the laws of both the Contracting Parties.

In all these cases the extradition will only take place from the Austro-Hungarian States when the crimes, if committed in Austria, would, according to Austrian law, constitute a "Verbrechen", or, if committed in Hungary, would, according to the laws and customs being in force in Hungary, constitute a crime ("buntett"); the extradition from Great Britain only when the crimes, if committed in England, or within English jurisdiction, would constitute an extradition crime, as described in the Extradition Acts of 1870 and 1873.

ARTICLE III

In no case and on no grounds whatever shall the High Contracting Parties be held to concede the extradition of their own subjects.

ARTICLE IV

The extradition shall not take place if the person claimed on the part of the Government of the United Kingdom, or the person claimed on the part of the Government of Austro-Hungary, has already been tried and discharged or punished, or is still under trial, in the Austro-Hungarian dominions, or in the United Kingdom, respectively, for the crime for which his extradition is demanded.

If the person claimed on the part of the Government of the United Kingdom, or if the person claimed on the part of the Government of Austro-Hungary, should be under examination for any other crime in the Austro-Hungarian dominions, or in the United Kingdom, respectively, his extradition shall be deferred until the conclusion of the trial, and the full execution of any punishment awarded to him.

Should an individual whose extradition is demanded be at litigation, or be detained in the country on account of private obligations, his surrender shall nevertheless be made, the injured party retaining the right to prosecute his claims before the competent authority.

ARTICLE V

The extradition shall not take place if, with respect to the crime for which it is demanded, and according to the laws of the country applied to, criminal prosecution and punishment has lapsed.

ARTICLE VI

A fugitive criminal shall not be surrendered if the offence in respect of which his surrender is demanded is one of a political character, or if he prove that the requisition for his surrender has, in fact, been made with a view to try or punish him for an offence of a political character.

ARTICLE VII

If an individual whose extradition is demanded by either of the Contracting Parties, in accordance with the terms of this Treaty, be also claimed by one or several other Powers on account of other crimes committed on their territory, he shall be surrendered to the Government in whose territory his gravest crime was committed; and if his crimes are all of the same gravity, or a doubt exists as to which is the gravest, to the Government which first made application for his surrender.

ARTICLE VIII

A surrendered person shall in no case be kept in arrest or subjected to examination in the State to which he has been surrendered on account of another previous crime, or any other grounds then those of his surrender, unless such person has, after his surrender, had an opportunity of returning to the country whence he was surrendered, and has not made use of this opportunity, or unless he, after having returned there, reappears in the country to which he has already been surrendered.

This stipulation does not refer to crimes committed after surrender.

ARTICLE IX

Requisitions for surrender shall be made by the Diplomatic Agents of the High Contracting Parties.

To the requisition for the surrender of an accused person there must be attached a warrant issued by the competent authorities of the State which demands extradition, and such proofs as would, according to the laws of the place where the accused was found, justify his arrest if the crime had been committed there.

If the requisition refers to a person already convicted, the sentence passed by the competent Tribunal or State demanding his surrender must be produced.

No requisition for surrender can be based on a conviction in contumaciam.

ARTICLE X

If the requisition for extradition be in accordance with the foregoing stipulations, the competent authorities of the State applied to shall proceed to the arrest of the fugitive.

The prisoner is then to be brought before a competent magistrate, who is to examine him and to conduct the preliminary investigation of the case, just as if the apprehension had taken place for a crime committed in the same country.

ARTICLE XI

A fugitive criminal may, however, in urgent cases be arrested under a warrant of a police magistrate, judge of the peace, or of any other competent authority in either country, on such information or complaint, or such evidence as would, in the opinion of the person issuing the warrant, justify the issue of a warrant if the crime had been committed or if the prisoner convicted in the district in which the authority happens to be; provided, however, that he shall be discharged if, within the shortest time possible, and at the utmost within 14 days, a requisition for his surrender in accordance with the terms of Article IX of this Treaty is not made by the Diplomatic Agent of the State which demands his extradition.

ARTICLE XII

The extradition shall not take place before the expiration of 15 days from the apprehension, and then only if the evidence be found sufficient, according to the laws of the State app1ied to, either to justify the committal of the prisoner for trial, in case the crime had been committed in the territory of the said State, or to prove that the prisoner is the identical person convicted by the Courts of the State which makes the requisition.

ARTICLE XIII

In the examinations which they have to make in accordance with the foregoing stipulations, the authorities of the State applied to shall admit as entirely valid evidence the sworn depositions or statements of witnesses taken in the other State, or copies thereof, and likewise the warrants and sentences issued therein, provided such documents are signed or certified by a judge, magistrate, or officer, of such State, and 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 XIV

If sufficient evidence for the extradition be not produced within two months from the date of the apprehension of the fugitive, he shall be set at liberty.

ARTICLE XV

All articles seized, which were in the possession of the person to be surrendered at the time of his apprehension, shall, if the competent authority of the State applied to for extradition has ordered the delivery thereof, be given up when the extradition takes place; and this delivery shall extend not only to property of the accused, and to the stolen articles, but also to everything which may serve as a proof of the crime. If the extradition cannot be carried out in consequence of the flight or death of the individual who is claimed, the delivery of the above-mentioned objects shall take place nevertheless.

ARTICLE XVI

Each of the Contracting Parties shall defray the expenses occasioned by the arrest within its territories, the detention, and the conveyance to its frontier, of the persons to be surrendered, in pursuance of this Treaty.

ARTICLE XVII

The stipulations of the present Treaty shall be applicable to the colonies and foreign possessions of Her Britannic Majesty.

The requisition for the surrender of a fugitive criminal who has taken refuge in any of such colonies or foreign possessions shall be made to the Governor or chief authority of such colony or possession by the Chief Consular Officer of Austro-Hungary in such colony or possession.

Such requisitions may be disposed of, subject always, as nearly as may be, to the provisions of this Treaty, by the said Governor or chief authority, who, however, shall be at liberty either to grant the surrender, or to refer the matter to his Government.

Her Britannic Majesty shall, however, be at liberty to make special arrangements in the British colonies and foreign possessions for the surrender or Austro-Hungarian criminals, who may take refuge within such colonies and foreign possessions, on the basis as nearly as may be, of the provisions of the present Treaty.

The requisition for the surrender of a fugitive criminal from any colony or foreign possession of Her Britannic Majesty shall be governed by the rules laid down in the preceding Articles of the present Treaty.

ARTICLE XVIII

The present Treaty shall come into force 10 days after its publication, in conformity with the forms prescribed by the laws of the High Contracting Parties. It may be terminated by either of the High Contracting Parties, but shall remain in force for 6 months after notice has been given for its termination.

The Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Vienna as soon as possible.

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

DONE at Vienna, the 3^rd day of December, in the year of Our Lord, 1873.

Andrew Buchanan

Andrassy

*Signed also in the German and Hungarian languages.