Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1886

No. 2.
Mr. Quesada to Mr. Bayard.

[Translation.]

Legation of the Argentine Republic,
Washington , November 5, 1885.

I have received instructions from the Argentine Government to send your excellency a printed copy of the extradition law promulgated on the 25th of August last, although one has already been transmitted to the United States minister at Buenos Ayres.

The minister of foreign relations instructs me to state to your excellency that this law does away with the necessity of special conventions, the clauses and provisions of which it is difficult to make uniform; it also establishes a general rule according to which any extradition cases that may arise are to be decided.

It is proper for me to add that all the copies that I have received contain the corrections which are found in Articles IV, XV, and XXXI.

I have the honor to reiterate to your excellency the assurances of my highest consideration.

VICENTE G. QUESADA.

[Inclosure.]

extradition law.

Ministry of Foreign Relations,
Buenos Ayres , August 25, 1885.

Whereas; the Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine nation, in Congress assembled, sanction with the force of law:

Chapter I.—Concerning extradition cases.

Article I. The Government of the Argentine Republic may surrender to foreign Governments, on condition of reciprocity, any person who may be pursued or accused, or who may have been convicted by the courts of the demanding power, provided that the crime or offense concerned is one of those enumerated in the present law, and in conformity with the rules thereby established.
Art. II. Extradition shall be granted when the crime committed is one of ordinary character, which according to the laws of the Republic, would render the perpetrator liable to not less than one year’s imprisonment.
Art. III. Extradition shall not be granted:

(1)

When the person for whose surrender application is made shall have been a native or naturalized Argentine citizen before the commission of the act on which the application for extradition is based.

(2)

When the offenses committed shall be of a political character, or connected with political offenses.

(3)

When the offenses shall have been committed in the territory of the Republic.

(4)

When, although the offenses have been committed outside of the Republic, the perpetrator thereof shall have been prosecuted and tried definitively therein.

(5)

When, according to the laws of the demanding power, the penalty or the right to prosecute for the offense on which the demand for extradition is based has become void through the statute of limitation.
Art. IV. When the person for whose extradition application is made shall be a slave who is charged with or has been convicted of an ordinary offense, extradition shall be granted provided that the nation making such application pledge itself to try him as a free man and to consider him always as such.
Art. V. In cases in which, according to the provisions of this law, the Government of the Republic is not to surrender the delinquents whose extradition is asked for, such delinquents shall be tried by the courts of the country, and shall be subject to the penalties established by law for crimes or offenses committed in the territory of the Republic. The final sentence or decision shall be communicated to the demanding Government.
Art. VI. Extradition shall always be granted with the proviso that the person surrendered shall not be prosecuted or punished for an offense distinct from that on which the demand for his extradition shall have been based, unless the offense concerned shall be another rendering him liable to extradition, and unless the Argentine Government shall duly consent thereto after the requirements of Articles 12 and 24 have been complied with. These restrictions shall not be enforced when the accused shall not have returned to the Republic within three months subsequent to his release, whether he shall have remained in the country that demanded his extradition or in another.
Art. VII. When application shall be made for the extradition of a foreigner who is pursued or accused, or who has been convicted in the courts of the Republic of a crime distinct from that on which the demand for his extradition is based, he shall not be surrendered until his trial is over and he has served out his punishment. Nevertheless, the extradition of a foreigner may be temporarily granted for the sole purpose of allowing him to appear before the courts of the demanding country, on condition that he shall be returned when the trial is ended.
Art. VIII. If, after the extradition of a foreigner shall have been obtained by the Argentine Government, such foreigner shall be claimed by another state, on account of another offense, extradition shall not be granted if there is ground therefor, except by consent of the country that shall have surrendered him.
Art. IX. If the extradition of a foreigner shall be asked for on account of offenses committed in a territory not belonging to the demanding power, it shall not be granted, except in those cases in which prosecution for offenses committed outside of the territory is permitted by the Argentine laws.
Art. X. When two or more nations apply for the extradition of the same person, on account of different offenses, the extradition shall be granted to that nation in, whose territory the most serious offense shall have been committed, and if the offenses shall be of equal magnitude, it shall be granted to the nation which shall have first made application.
Art. XI. If the person claimed shall not be a citizen of the demanding country, and shall likewise be claimed by the Government of his nation on account of the same offense, it shall be optional with the Argentine Government to surrender him to whichever Government it may think proper, according to the antecedents of the case.

Chapter II.— Procedure.

Art. XII. Every demand for extradition shall be made diplomatically, and shall be accompanied by the following documents:

(1)

The sentence of condemnation, notified in the form prescribed by the laws of the demanding country, if the person claimed shall already have been convicted, or the warrant of arrest issued by the competent courts, with the exact designation and the date of the commission of the offense in question, if the person is merely charged with committing the same. The originals of these documents or an authentic copy thereof shall be presented.

(2)

All data and antecedents necessary to prove the identity of the person whose extradition is demanded.

(3)

A copy of the legal provisions applicable, according to the laws of the demanding country, to the offense with which the person is charged.
Art. XIII. When the demand for extradition is received, the minister of foreign relations shall examine whether it is accompanied by the necessary documents, whether the offense for which it is made is included among the cases specified in this law, and whether any of the circumstances enumerated in Article III exist.
Art. XIV. If the result of such examination shall be unfavorable to the granting of the extradition, he shall submit his opinion to the President of the Republic for [Page 6] the consideration of the cabinet, and if his said opinion shall be approved, he shall transmit it officially to the respective diplomatic minister, with the grounds on which it is based.
Art. XV. If, on the other hand, the minister of foreign relations shall consider that the requirements of Article XII are satisfied, and that the case comes within the provisions of this law, and not within the exceptions provided for in Article III, he shall immediately give notice to the minister of the interior, to the end that suitable measures may be adopted for the arrest of the person whose extradition is demanded, provided that he shall not already have been arrested, according to the provisions of Articles XXV and XXVII.
Art. XVI. The person arrested shall be placed at the disposal of the judge of the district in which his arrest shall have taken place, together with the accompanying antecedents, within the space of thirty days; at the expiration of which, without this having been done, the person arrested shall be released by the aforesaid judge.
Art. XVII. Within twenty-four hours from the receipt of the said documents the judge shall receive the statement of the presumptive criminal, with a view to obtaining proof of the indentity of the person, who may be permitted to employ counsel.
Art. XVIII. It shall not be permissible to call into question the intrinsic validity of the documents produced by the demanding Government, but the investigation shall be confined to the following points:

(1)

Indentity of the person.

(2)

Examination of the extrinsic forms of the documents presented.

(3)

Whether the crime is included among the cases enumerated in this law.

(4)

Whether the penalty enforced belongs to the category of those penalties which are properly applicable to the crime or offense in question, according to the laws of the demanding country.

(5)

Whether the case is included within the provisions of Article III.

(6)

Whether the sentence or the warrant of arrest emanates from the competent courts of the demanding country.
Art. XIX. The person whose surrender is demanded, or his counsel, shall have six days to present his defense, which the district attorney shall be allowed to hold for six days for examination.
Art. XX. If there shall be any necessity to prove any facts, the case shall be received for evidence, and with regard to this, and to its terms, the provisions of national procedure shall be observed.
Art. XXI. When the evidence has been laid before him, the judge shall decide within ten days, and declare whether there is or is not ground for granting the extradition.
Art. XXII. If the decision of the court shall be unfavorable to the granting of the extradition, owing to any defect in the documents which must accompany the demand, such decision shall be communicated by the minister of foreign relations to the representative of the demanding country, to the end that the defect in question may be remedied.
The person arrested shall be released if these documents shall not arrive within one month, reckoning from the time of the communication of the diplomatic notice, if the country concerned be one bordering on the Republic, and within three months in the case of all other countries.
Art. XXIII. If the decision of the court shall authorize or refuse extradition for any of the causes specified in paragraphs 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Article XVIII, an appeal to the supreme court may be taken; which court shall finally decide the case, it having previously been submitted to the attorney-general of the nation.
The original process shall be transmitted to the ministry of foreign relations through the ministry of justice, and an authenticated copy of the decision shall be transmitted to the demanding minister, together with the decree authorizing the extradition, if it is granted.
Art. XXIV. If, on account of a crime or offense committed previously to the act of the extradition, bat discovered subsequently thereto, authorization shall be asked to prosecute the person already surrendered, the demand, which shall be accompanied by the papers relative to the process, in which shall be contained the observations of the person accused, or a declaration signed by him that he has no observations to make, shall be submitted to the district judge before whom the demand for his extradition shall have come, and from his decision there shall be no appeal.

Chapter III.—Various provisions.

Art. XXV. In case of urgency, the courts of the Republic may order the preliminary arrest of a foreigner in compliance with the direct request of the judicial authorities of a country having an extradition treaty with the Republic, provided that the existence of a sentence or of a warrant of arrest be invoked, and provided that the nature of the crime for which the person in question has been sentenced or is pursued be clearly determined.
The demand may be made by mail or telegraph, and, at the same time, notice shall be given, diplomatically, to the minister of foreign relations. The courts that have caused the arrest to be made shall immediately give notice thereof to the minister of foreign relations, through the minister of justice.
Art. XXVI. A foreigner arrested in virtue of the provisions of the foregoing article shall be immediately released if it shall be so ordered by the Executive; or if, within the space of one month, when the country concerned is one bordering on the Republic, and of two months in the case of all other countries, the Argentine Government shall not receive, in due form, the diplomatic demand for extradition.
Art. XXVII. The preliminary arrest of a foreigner may likewise be ordered by the Executive, at the request of a diplomatic minister, pending the arrival of the documents necessary to be presented with the demand for extradition, and the provisions of the two foregoing articles shall be applicable to these cases.
Art. XXVIII. The Argentine Government may authorize the transit through the territory of the Republic of a surrendered person/who is not an Argentine citizen, without any requirement save the diplomatic presentation of the sentence whereby he has been condemned or of the warrant issued for his arrest, provided that the person in question be not accused of political offenses or offenses therewith connected, and that it be for an offense rendering him liable to extradition according to this law.
Art. XXIX. All papers and other articles that may have been taken from the presumptive criminal, and that may serve to throw light upon the offense with which he is charged, shall be turned over to the Government applying for his extradition, if it shall so request, on condition that that Government shall return the same when the case shall be concluded, if there shall be third parties claiming them.
Art. XXX. Letters rogatory, issued by a competent foreign magistrate in a criminal, not apolitical, case, shall be presented diplomatically, and shall be transmitted to the competent judicial authorities.
Art. XXXI. Citations in a criminal, not a political, case, of witnesses domiciled or residing in the Republic, shall not be received, and notice thereof shall not be given, save on condition that such witnesses shall not be prosecuted or arrested on account of previous acts or convictions, or as accomplices in the offense then brought to trial, it being understood that the appearance of the witnesses is purely voluntary on their part, and that the expenses thereof shall be defrayed by the demanding Government.
Art. XXXII. The procedure established by the present law shall be applicable also to cases governed by extradition treaties in all points not at variance with their stipulations.
Art. XXXIII. The Executive shall give notice, at their expiration, of the desire of the Government of the Republic for the cessation of the effects of all extradition treaties that do not conform to the provisions of this law.
Art. XXXIV. Let it be communicated to the Executive.

Done in the hall of sessions of the Argentine Congress, at Buenos Ayres, on the twentieth day of August, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five.

FRANCISCO B. MADERO.
Adolfo J. Labougle,
Secretary of the Senate,
RAFAEL RUIZ DE LOS LLANOS.
Juan Ovando,
Secretary ad interim of the Chamber of Deputies.

Therefore: Let it be obeyed, communicated, published, and inserted in the R. N.

ROCA.
FRANCISCO J. ORTIZ.