[175] Some account of the reports of these Commissions is given in the History of Criminal Law, ii. 45-58, 65-72. The Fugitive Slave Commission was appointed in consequence of a case in which the commander of an English ship in a Mohammedan port was summoned to give up a slave who had gone on board. A paper laid before the Committee by Fitzjames is reprinted in the first passage cited. He thinks that international law prescribes the surrender of the slave; and that we should not try to evade this 'revolting' consequence by a fiction as to the 'exterritoriality' of a ship of war, which might lead to unforeseen and awkward results. We ought to admit that we are deliberately breaking the law, because we hold it to be unjust and desire its amendment. He signs the report of the Commission understanding that it sanctions this view.
[176] History of Criminal Law, i. 418.
[177] History of Criminal Law, i. 265-272.
[178] Fitzjames had given a slighter account of this curious subject in the Contemporary Review for February 1871.
[179] History of Criminal Law, ii. 81-3.
[180] Ibid. iii. 84.
[181] History of Criminal Law, ii. 175.
[182] History of Criminal Law, i. 442.
[183] Fitzjames discussed this question for the last time in the Nineteenth Century for October 1886. Recent changes had, he says, made the law hopelessly inconsistent; and he points out certain difficulties, though generally adhering to the view given above.
[184] History of Criminal Law, iii. 367.