Court of Appeal
| Published date | 01 January 1959 |
| Date | 01 January 1959 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201835902300105 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Court
of
Appeal
FUGITIVE OFFENDER'S RIGHT OF APPEAL
In re Baron Kalman de Demko
THE above case (1958 3 W
L.R.,
624) raised the question
whether a fugitive offender has aright of appeal to the
Court
of Appeal against
the
refusal by the Divisional Court of an
application for relief under s. 10 of the Fugitive Offenders
Act, 188Ithe terms of which are as follows:
"Where
it is made to appear to a superior court
that
by reason of
the
trivial nature of the case or by reason of
the
application for
the
return of a fugitive not being made
in good faith in
the
interests of justice or otherwise it
would having regard to the distance, to
the
facilities for
communication and to all
the
circumstances of
the
case
be unjust or oppressive or too severe a punishment to
return the fugitive either at all or until
the
expiration of
acertain period, such Court may discharge the fugitive
either absolutely or on bail in order
that
he shall not be
returned until after the expiration of
the
period named
in the order or may make such other order in
the
premises
as to the court seems
just"
.
By s. 39 of the Act a "superior court" in England means
the
High Court and
the
Court of Appeal.
In
the
present case the appellant had pursuant to sections
5 and 6 of the Act been committed by
the
chief metropolitan
magistrateto Brixton Prisonthereto await the Home Secretary's
warrant for his being returned to the Union of South Africa to
stand his trial for offences alleged to have been committed
there. On the 14th July 1958 the appellant applied to a
Divisional Court under s. 10 of the Act for his discharge
but
this application was refused and the present appeal was
brought against
that
decision.
The
appeal came before
the
Court of Appeal (Lord Evershed M.R., Sellers and Pearce
35
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