Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/229/447.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 23:08:47+00:00

Document:
[229 U.S. 447, 448] This is an appeal from a judgment dismissing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and remanding the petitioner to custody under a warrant for his extradition as a fugitive from the justice of the Kingdom of Italy.
The proceedings for the extradition of the appellant were begun upon a complaint duly made by the Italian vice-consul, charging him wiht the commission of a murder in Italy. A warrant was duly issued by the Hon. John A. Blair, one of the judges of New Jersey, [229 U.S. 447, 449] qualified to sit as a committing magistrate in such a proceeding, under 5270, Revised Statutes (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 3591). At the hearing, evidence was produced which satisfied Judge Blair that the appellant was a fugitive from justice, and that he was the person whose return to Italy was desired, and that there was probable cause for holding him for trial upon the charge of murder, committed there. He thereupon committed the appellant, to be held until surrendered under a warrant to be issued by the Secretary of State. A transcript of the evidence and of the findings was duly certified as required by 5270, Revised Statutes, and a warrant in due form for his surrender was issued by the Secretary of State. Its execution has, up to this time been prevented by the habeas corpus proceedings in the court below and the pendency of this appeal.
[229 U.S. 447, 456] Mr. Pierre P. Garven for appellees.
A writ of habeas corpus cannot be used as a writ of error. If Judge Blair had jurisdiction of the person of the accused and of the subject- matter, and had before him competent legal evidence of the commission of this crime with which the appellant was charged in the complaint, which, according to the law of New Jersey, would justify his apprehension and commitment mitment for trial if the crime had been committed in that state, his decision may not be reviewed on habeas corpus. Terlinden v. Ames, 184 U.S. 270, 278 , 46 S. L. ed. 534, 541, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 484, 12 Am. Crim. Rep. 424; Bryant v. United States, 167 U.S. 104 , 42 L. ed. 94, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 744; McNamara v. Henkel, 226 U.S. 520 , 57 L. ed. --, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 146.
It must be conceded that impressive evidence of the insanity of the accused was offered by him and excluded. It is now said that this ruling was erroneous. But if so, this is not a writ of error, and mere errors in the rejection of evidence are not subject to review by a writ of habeas corpus. Benson v. McMahon, 127 U.S. 457, 461 , 32 S. L. ed. 234, 236, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1240; Terlinden v. Ames, 184 U.S. 270, 278 , 46 S. L. ed. 534, 541, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 484, 12 Am. Crim. Rep. 424; McNamara v. Henkel, 226 U.S. 520 , 57 L. ed. --, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 146. In the McNamara Case, certain depositions had been received for the prosecution over objection. This court said that there was legal evidence on which to base the action of the commissioner in holding the accused for extradition, irrespective of the depositions objected to.
'Taking this provision of the treaty and that of the Revised Statutes above recited, we are of opinion that [229 U.S. 447, 460] the proceeding before the commissioner is not to be regarded as in the nature of a final trial by which the prisoner could be convicted or acquitted of the crime charged against him, but rather of the character of those preliminary examinations which take place every day in this country before an examining or committing magistrate for the purpose of determining whether a case is made out which will justify the holding of the accused, either by imprisonment or under bail, to ultimately answer to an indictment or other proceeding, in which he shall be finally tried upon the charge made against him. The language of the treaty which we have cited, above quoted, explicitly provides that 'the commission of the crime shall be so established as that the laws of the country in which the fugitive or the person so accused shall be found would justify his or her apprehension and commitment for trial if the crime had been there committed.' This prescribes the proceedings in these preliminary examinations as accurately as language can well do it. The act of Congress conferring jurisdiction upon the commissioner, or other examining officer, it may be noted in this connection, says that if he deems the evidence sufficient to sustain the charge under the provisions of the treaty, he shall certify the same, together with a copy of all the testimony, and issue his warrant for the commitment of the person so charged.
2. It was next objected that no formal demand for the extradition of the appellant was made within forty days after his arrest, and that he was therefore entitled to be [229 U.S. 447, 463] set at liberty. The objection is founded upon the supplemental convention with Italy of 1884, heretofore set out.
A 'certificate,' such as was indicated by that convention, was undoubtedly 'exhibited' to the committing magistrate, and was the basis of his action. The other parts of the provision are not clear. What is referred to by the phrase, 'the requisition, together with the documents above provided,' etc., which is required to be made within forty days, or the person set at liberty? The 'certificate' attesting 'that a requisition has been made,' etc., was 'exhibited' to Judge Blair; and we fail to find in this clause of the treaty any requirement that the subsequent 'formal demand' for the extradition shall be filed with magistrate within forty days after the arrest of the accused, or at any other time. The whole of the convention should be read together and in connection with 5270, Revised Statutes, which is applicable to all treaties. Under 5270, any one of the judicial officers named therein may, upon complaint, charging one of the crimes named in the treaty, issue his warrant of arrest and hear the evidence of criminality. This done, his duty is, if he deems the evidence sufficient to hold the accused for extradition, to commit him to jail, and to certify his conclusion, with the evidence, to the Secretary of State, who may then, 'upon the requisition of the proper authorities of such foreign government, issue his warrant for the surrender of the accused. Revised Statutes, 5272, 5273. Of course, the effect of the supplementary treaty of 1884, being later than the statutory requirements above referred to, is to supersede the statute in so far as there is a necessary conflict in the carrying out of the extradition obligation between this country and Italy. But, as observed in Grin v. Shine, 187 U.S. 181, 191 , 47 S. L. ed. 130, 136, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 98, 12 Am. Crim. Rep. 366, 'Congress has a perfect right to provide for the extradition of criminals in its own way, with or without a treaty to that effect, and to declare [229 U.S. 447, 464] that foreign criminals shall be surrendered upon such proofs of criminality as it may judge sufficient. Castro v. DeUriarte, 16 Fed. 93. This appears to have been the object of 5270, which is applicable to all foreign governments with which we have treaties of extradition.' This section, by its very terms, applies 'in all cases in which there now exists or hereafter may exist, any treaty or convention for extradition.' Had there been no law of Congress upon the subject, the method of procedure prescribed by the supplementary treaty of 1884 would necessarily have been the proper one, and the committing magistrate could have proceeded only according to the treaty, for that would have been the only law of the land applicable to the case and the only source of his authority.
It was therefore competent for Judge Blair to act upon the complaint made before him independently of any preliminary mandate or certificate, such as was in fact issued and 'exhibited' to him in this case, being plainly authorized so to do by the terms of 5270. The personal rights of the accused are saved by the provisions of the same section, since he could only have been surrendered upon the warrant of the Secretary of State, based upon the evidence presented upon the hearing, and the conclusion of the sufficiency of the evidence of criminality certified to the Secretary of State, and upon a formal requisition for extradition. Castro v. DeUriarte, 16 Fed. 93, 97: Grin v. Shine, supra.
Construed in the light of the original and supplementary conventions with Italy, and of 5270, Revised Statutes, we do not find that it was obligatory that the 'formal demand' referred to in the 1884 clause should be proven in the preliminary proceeding within forty days after the arrest. That is a demand made upon the executive authority of the United States by the executive authority of Italy. Its presentation was not necessary to give the examining magistrate jurisdiction. Such a formal demand [229 U.S. 447, 465] was in fact made on July 28, 1910, less than forty days after the arrest. That, together with the certificate of the magistrate and the evidence submitted to him, was the authority of law under which the Secretary of State issued his warrant of extradition. Every requirement of the law, whether it appears in the treaty or in the act of Congress, was substantially complied with. This was the construction placed upon the treaty by Mr. Secretary Knox in answer to the same objection made to him before he issued his warrant, and also of Judge Rellstab, who dismissed the petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and from whose decree this appeal comes.
That the word 'persons' etymologically includes citizens as well as those who are not can hardly be debatable. The treaty contains no reservation of citizens of the country of asylum. The contention is that an express exclusion of citizens or subjects is not necessary, as by implication from accepted principles of public law, persons who are citizens of the asylum country are excluded from extradition convention unless expressly included. This was the position taken by the Foreign Minister of Italy in a correspondence in 1890 with the Secretary of State of the United States, concerning a demand made by the United States for the extradition of Bevivini and Villella, two subjects of Italy whose extradition was sought, that they might be tried for a crime committed in this country. Their extradition was refused [229 U.S. 447, 466] by Italy on account of their Italian nationality. The Foreign Minister of Italy advanced in favor of the Italian position these grounds: (a) That the Italian Penal Code of 1890, in express terms provided that, 'the extradition of a citizen is not permitted;' (b) that a crime committed by an Italian subject in a foreign country was punishable in Italy, and, therefore, there was no ground for saying that unless extradited the crime would go unpunished; and (c) that it has become a recognized principle of public international law that one nation will not deliver its own citizens or subjects upon the demand of another, to be tried for a crime committed in the territory of the latter, unless it has entered into a convention expressly so contracting; and that the United States had itself recognized the principle in many treaties by inserting a clause exempting citizens from extradition. (United States Foreign Relations 1890, p. 555.) Mr. Blaine, then Secretary of State of the United States, protested against the position of the Italian government, and maintained the view that citizens were included among the persons subject to extradition unless expressly excluded. His defense of the position is full and remarkably able. It is to be found in United States Foreign Relations for 1890, pp. 557, 566.
With Great Britain, November 10, 1842, [12 Stat. at L. 572], extended July 12, 1889 [26 Stat. at L. 1508], United States Treaties 1910, pp. 650 and 740.
With France, April 13, 1844, id. p. 526 [8 Stat. at L. 580].
With Italy, March 23, 1868, id. p. 966 [15 Stat. at L. 629].
With Venezuela, August 27, 1860, id. p. 1845 [12 Stat. at L. 1143].
With Ecuador, 1872, id. p. 436 [18 Stat. at L. 756].
With Dominican Republic, 1867, id. p. 413 [15 Stat. at L. 473].
'Art. 7. Neither of the contracting parties shall be bound to deliver up its own citizens or subjects under the stipulations of this convention, but they shall have the power to deliver them up, if, in their discretion, it be deemed proper to do so.' [24 Stat. at. L. 1017].
The conclusion we reach is, that there is no principle of international law by which citizens are excepted out of an agreement to surrender 'persons,' where no such exception is made in the treaty itself. Upon the contrary, the word 'persons' includes all persons when not qualified as it is in some of the treaties between this and other nations. That this country has made such an exception in some of [229 U.S. 447, 468] its conventions and not in others demonstrates that the contracting parties were fully aware of the consequences unless there was a clause qualifying the word 'persons.' This interpretation has been consistently upheld by the United States, and enforced under the several treaties which do not exempt citizens. That Italy has not conformed to this view, and the effect of this attitude, will be considered later. But that the United States has always construed its obligation as embracing its citizens is illustrated by the action of the executive branch of the government in this very instance. A construction of a treaty by the political department of the government, while not conclusive upon a court called upon to construe such a treaty in a matter involving personal rights, is nevertheless of much weight.
The effect of yielding to the interpretation urged by Italy would have brought about most serious consequences as to other treaties then in force. One of these was the extradition treaty with Great Britain, made as far back as [229 U.S. 447, 469] 1843. Inasmuch as under the law of that country, as of this, crimes committed by their citizens within the jurisdiction of another country were punishable only where the crime was committed, it was important that the Italian interpretation should not be accepted.
'Mr. Secretary of State: Referring to previous communications, and in accordance with the provisions of article 5 of the extradition convention of March 23, 1868, I have the honor to lay before your Excellency a formal request for the extradition of Porter Charlton, who has confessed the crime of murder committed on the person of his own wife at Moltrasio, Como, which crime is specified in article 2, 1, of the said convention.
'Excellency: In compliance with the request made by your Embassy in its note of July 28 last, and in pursu- [229 U.S. 447, 472] ance of existing treaty stipulations between the United States and Italy, I have the honor to inclose a warrant of surrender in the case of Porter Charlton, charged with murder, committed within the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Italy, and examined and committed for surrender by the Honorable John A. Blair, judge of the court of common pleas in and for the county of Hudson, in the state of New Jersey.
This adherence to a view of the obligation of the treaty as not requiring one country to surrender its nationals while it did the other presented a situation in which the United States might do either of two things; namely, abandon its own interpretation of the word 'persons' as including citizens, or adhere to its own interpretation and surrender the appellant, although the obligation had, [229 U.S. 447, 473] as to nationals, ceased to be reciprocal. The United States could not yield its own interpretation of the treaty, since that would have had the most serious consequence on five other treaties in which the word 'persons' had been used in its ordinary meaning, as including all persons, and, therefore, not exempting citizens. If the attitude of Italy was, as contended, a violation of the obligation of the treaty, which, in international law, would have justified the United States in denouncing the treaty as no longer obligatory, it did not automatically have that effect. If the United States elected not to declare its abrogation, or come to a rupture, the treaty would remain in force. It was only voidable, not void; and if the United States should prefer, it might waive any breach which, in its judgment, had occurred, and conform to its own obligation as if there had been no such breach. 1 Kent, Com. p. 175.
[ Footnote 1 ] U. S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 3595, 3596.

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