criminal to be surrendered to such person as may be duly authorized to receive him on the part of the Government of His Majesty the King of the Belgians. 2. In the case of a person convicted The course of proceeding shall be the same as in the case of a person accused, except that the warrant to be transmitted by the Minister or other Diplomatic Agent 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. III. In the dominions of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, 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 the Belgians by the Minister or other Diplomatic Agent of Her Britannic Majesty, accompanied by a warrant of arrest or other equivalent judicial document issued by a Judge or Magistrate duly authorized to take cognizance of the acts charged against the accused in Great Britain, together with duly authenticated depositions or statements taken on oath or upon solemn affirmation before such Judge or Magistrate, clearly setting forth the said acts and containing a description of the person claimed, and any other particulars which may serve to identify him. The Minister for Foreign Affairs shall transmit the warrant of arrest, with the documents thereto annexed, to the Minister of Justice, who shall forward the same to the proper judicial authority, in order that the warrant of arrest may be put in course of execution by the Chamber of the Council (Chambre du Conseil) of the Court of First Instance of the place of residence of the accused, or of the place where he may be found. The foreigner may claim to be provisionally set at liberty in any case in which a Belgian enjoys that right, and under the same conditions. The application shall be submitted to the Chamber of the Council (Chambre du Conseil). The Government will take the opinion of the Chamber of Indictments or Investigation (Chambre des Mises en Accusation) of the Court of Appeal within whose jurisdiction the foreigner shall have been arrested. The hearing of the case shall be public, unless the foreigner should demand that it should be with closed doors. The public authorities and the foreigner shall be heard. The latter may obtain the assistance of counsel. Within a fortnight from the receipt of the documents, they shall be returned, with a reasoned opinion, to the Minister of Justice, who shall decide and may order that the accused be delivered to the person duly authorized on the part of the Government of Her Britannic Majesty. 2. In case of a person convicted The course of proceeding shall be the same as in the case of a person accused, except that the conviction or sentence of condemnation issued in original or in an authenticated copy, to be transinitted by the Minister or other Diplomatic Agent 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 Belgian laws, prove that the prisoner was convicted of the crime charged. 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. He shall be discharged, as well in the United Kingdom as in Belgium, if within 14 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 any vessel of either country which may come into a port of the other. 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. 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. 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 party upon which it is made to be a political offence, or to be an act connected with (connexe à) such an offence, or if 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, 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. 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 dominious 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 Provided such warrants, depositions, statements, copies, certificates, and judicial documents are authenticated by the oath or solemn affirmation of some witness, or by being sealed with the official seal of the Minister of Justice or some other Minister of State. 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 shall have taken refuge. X. If the individual claimed by one of the two High Contracting Parties in pursuance of the present Treaty should be also claimed by one or several other Powers, on account of other crimes committed upon their respective territories, his surrender shall be granted to that State whose demand is earliest in date; unless any other arrangement should be made between the Governments which have claimed him, either on account of the gravity of the crimes committed or for any other reasons. XI. If the individual claimed should be under prosecution, or condemned by the Courts of the country where he has 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. XII. Every article found in the possession of the individual claimed at the time of his arrest shall, if the competent authority so decide, 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 everything 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. The rights of third parties with regard to the said property or articles are nevertheless reserved. XIII. Each of the High Contracting Parties shall defray the expenses occasioned by the arrest within its territories, the detention, and the conveyance to its frontier, of the persons whom it may consent to surrender in pursuance of the present Treaty. XIV. The stipulations of the present Treaty shall be applicable to the Colonies and foreign Possessions of the two High Contracting Parties. The requisition for the surrender of a fugitive criminal who has taken refuge in a Colony or foreign Possession of either party shall be made to the Governor or chief authority of such Colony or l'ossession by the chief Consular Officer of the other 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 Goverror 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 shall, however, be at liberty to make special arrangements in the British Colonies and foreign Possessions for the surrender of Belgian criminals who may there take refuge, on the basis, as nearly as may be, of the provisions of the present Treaty. XV. The present Treaty shall come into operation ten days after its publication in conformity with the laws of the respective countries. After the Treaty shall so have been brought into operation, the Treaty concluded between the High Contracting Parties on the 31st July, 1872,* shall be considered as cancelled, except as to any * Vol. LXII. Page 23. 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 six months' notice of its intention. XVI. The present Treaty shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Brussels as soon as may be within six 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 Brussels, the 20th day of May, in the year of Our Lord 1876. (L.S.) J. SAVILE LUMLEY. (L.S.) CTE. D'ASPREMONT-LYNDEN. TREATY of Commerce between Great Britain and Austria [Ratifications exchanged at Vienna, December 29, 1876.] HER Majesty the IHRE Majestät die Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on the one part, and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, &c., and Apostolic King of Hungary, on the other part, being equally desirous to regulate and extend the commercial relations between their respective States and Possessions, have resolved, after notice had been given for the termination of the Treaty of Commerce of the 16th of December, 1865,* and of the Convention supplementary thereto of the 30th of December, 1869,† to conclude a new Treaty for the above purpose, and have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say: : Königin des Vereinigten * Vol. LV. Page 5. Ő FELSÉGE Nagy-Británia és Irhon egyesült királyság királynője egy. részrol, és Ő Felsége, az ausztriai császár, Csehország királya, stb. és Magyarország apostoli királya másrészröl azon közös óhajtól vezéreltetve, hogy államaik és birtokaik közt a kereskedelmi viszonyokat kölcsönösen szabályozzák és kiterjesszék, az 1865, évi December 16án kötött kereskedelmi szerödés, valamint az ahhoz tartozó 1869, évi December 30iki, pótegyezmény felmondása után elhatározták, hogy e végre új szerződést kötnek és meghtaalmazottaikka kinevezték, ugymint :— + Vol. LIX. Page 14. |