Extra-Territoriality
| Published date | 01 January 1930 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3000300105 |
| Date | 01 January 1930 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Extra-Territoriality
AS VIEWED BY A POLICE OFFICER
By
LT.-COL.
ERIC
LAWSON,O.B.E.,
Formerly Commissioner of Police, Bangkok, Siam
AGREAT deal has been written about extra-territoriality.
The
writers have chiefly been experts in international law,
and judges of Extra-Territorial Courts.
The
experts in
international law have mainly confined themselves to abstract
principles and have left concrete facts to humbler folk.
The
judges have written from the viewpoint of courts that ad-
minister extra-territorial law in foreign, mainly eastern,
countries. Another class has also written. Intemperate and
mostly partially educated youths have written many silly
articles on the unequal treaties. Most of these articles err on
the side of ignorance of the facts even more than they err on
the side of lack of courtesy to their opponents.
There is, however, one view of extra-territoriality which
has never, so far as I know, been presented in any article,
and that is the view of the man who has had, for many years,
to administer the police in a country in which extra-territori-
ality was in force, on behalf of the Government of the country.
There have, of course, been articles by police officers who
commanded police forces in extra-territorial Settlements in
China. There was an excellent article on the Shanghai
police in The
Police
Journal (Vol. 1., p. 128). But these
officers were a part of the extra-territorial system. It is the
inside view that I wish to present.
,
The
toad beneath the harrow knows exactly where each
sharp point goes.' I do not believe that quotation from
Kipling is quite right, but that does not matter. I want to
express the views of the
toad;
for I was the toad for nearly a
quarter of a century and have lived on to see that particular
4°
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