EXTRADITION
EXTRADITION, civil law. The act of sending, by authority of law, a person accused of a crime to a foreign jurisdiction where it was committed, in' order that he may be tried there. Merl. Rep. h. t.
2. By the constitution and laws of the United States, fugitives from justice (q. v.) may be demanded by the executive of the one state where the crime has been committed from that of another where the accused is. Const. United States, art. 4, s. 2, 2 3 Story, Com. Const. U. S. §1801, et seq.
3. The government of the United States is bound by some treaty stipulation's to surrender criminals who take refuge within the country, but independently of such conventions, it is questionable whether criminals can be surrendered. 1 Kent. Com. 36; 4 John. C. R. 106; 1 Amer. Jurist, 297; 10 Serg. & Rawle, 125; 22 Amer. Jur. 330; Story's Confl. of Laws, p. 520; Wheat. Intern. Law, 111.
4. As to when the extradition or delivery of the supposed criminal is complete is not very certain. A case occurred in, France of a Mr. Cassado, a Spaniard, who had taken refuge in Bayonne. Upon an application made to the French government, he was delivered to the Spanish consul who had authority to take him to Spain, and while in the act of removing him with the assistance of French officers, a creditor obtained an execution against his person, and made an attempt to execute it and retain Cassado in France, but the council of state, (conseil d'etat) on appeal, decided that the courts could not interfere, and directed Cassado to be delivered to the Spanish authorities. Morrin, Dict. du Dr. Crim. h.v.