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28 St. Louis U. L.J. 33 (1984)
The Development of International Law of Extradition

handle is hein.journals/stlulj28 and id is 51 raw text is: THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW OF EXTRADITION The history of the practice of extradition dates back to the very earliest times. It is known that in a treaty between Rameses II of Egypt and Hattusili III, 1280 B.C., there was a provision relating to the return of fugitive offenders. Later, the Roman Empire allowed for extradition as between its various provinces.' Insofar as other indepen- dent nations dealing with the Roman Empire were concerned, however, it would seem that extradition was probably confined to enemies of the State. The modern history of extradition, and in this context I refer to its development within the last two centuries, has seen a remarkable change in the area of extradition for political offenders. It is that topic, one of peculiar relevance for my country, that I intend to discuss. Extradition is itself a development from the theory of asylum. In the ancient Greek city states we have been told that asylum was granted to everyone, whether his offence might be described as political or otherwise.3 In the Middle Ages the primary purpose of extradition treaties was in fact to provide for the punishment of political offenders who became fugitives and sought to escape punishment by fleeing to other jurisdictions. It was understandable that this should be the case, for whilst absolute monarchs might well war with one another, they maintained a common interest in securing by treaty the arrest and pun- ishment (in many instances execution) of those who sought to over- throw their regimes. For example, in 1174 Henry II of England and William of Scotland concluded a treaty for the surrender of traitors and felons.' The features distinguishing the democratic republics of the last two centuries, in particular the French Republic, from their contempo- raries in other parts of Europe brought about a changed approach to the whole question of extradition. Gradually, during the nineteenth century, the political offence changed from being the extraditable of- fence par excellence to . . . the nonextraditable offence par excel- I. See I E. GIBBON, THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 52-73 (1946). 2. See E. CLARKE, THE LAW OF EXTRADITION 17 (4th ed. 1903). 3. See 5 J. VERZIJL, INTERNATIONAL LAW IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 269-86 (1972). 4. I. SHEARER, EXTRADITION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW 166 (1971). 5. O'Higgins, The History of Extradition in British Practice, 1174-1794, 13 IND. Y.B. INT'L AFF. 80-81 (1964).

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