[686] See, however, below, § [340], concerning the reactionary movement in the matter.
[687] See Mettgenberg, "Die Attentatsklausel im deutschen Auslieferungsrecht" (1906), pp. 61-76, where a survey of the different opinions is given.
[688] According to Stephen, "History of the Criminal Law in England," vol. II. p. 71, political crimes are such as are identical to and form a part of political disturbances.
[689] The problem came twice before the English courts; see Ex parte Castione, L.R. [1891] 1 Q.B. 149, and In re Meunier, L.R. [1894] 2 Q.B. 415. In the case of Castione, a Swiss who had taken part in a revolutionary movement in the canton of Ticino and had incidentally shot a member of the Government, the Court refused extradition because the crime was considered to be political. On the other hand, in the case of Meunier, a French anarchist who was prosecuted for having caused two explosions in France, one of which resulted in the death of two individuals, the extradition was granted because the crime was not considered to be political.
The so-called Belgian Attentat Clause.
§ 335. The first attempt was the enactment of the so-called attentat clause by Belgium in 1856,[690] following the case of Jacquin in 1854. A French manufacturer named Jules Jacquin, domiciled in Belgium, and a foreman of his factory named Célestin Jacquin, who was also a Frenchman, tried to cause an explosion on the railway line between Lille and Calais with the intention of murdering the Emperor Napoleon III. France requested the extradition of the two criminals, but the Belgian Court of Appeal had to refuse the surrender on account of the Belgian extradition law interdicting the surrender of political criminals. To provide for such cases in the future, Belgium enacted in 1856 a law amending her extradition law and stipulating that murder of the head of a foreign Government or of a member of his family should not be considered a political crime. Gradually all European States, with the exception of England and Switzerland, have adopted that attentat clause, and a great many Continental writers urge its adoption by the whole of the civilised world.[691]
[690] See details in Martitz, op. cit. II. p. 372.
[691] See Mettgenberg, op. cit. pp. 109-114.
The Russian Project of 1881.
§ 336. Another attempt to deal with complex crimes without detriment to the principle of non-extradition of political criminals was made by Russia in 1881. Influenced by the murder of the Emperor Alexander II. in that year, Russia invited the Powers to hold an International Conference at Brussels for the consideration of the proposal that thenceforth no murder or attempt to murder ought to be considered as a political crime. But the Conference did not take place, since Great Britain as well as France declined to take part in it.[692] Thus the development of things had come to a standstill, many States having adopted, others declining to adopt, the Belgian clause, and the Russian proposal having fallen through.