FROM JUSTICE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

FROM JUSTICEAuthored

The Law Mind • 786 words

Definition

"Fugitive from justice" — commonly abbreviated in historical legal texts and headings to "from justice" — refers to a person who has fled or absented themselves from the jurisdiction in which they committed a crime in order to evade arrest, prosecution, or punishment. The phrase appears most frequently in extradition contexts, where it identifies the class of persons subject to interstate or international surrender.

The term operates within two overlapping legal frameworks:

1. Interstate extradition (domestic): Under the Extradition Clause of the U.S. Constitution and implementing federal statutes, a person charged with a crime in one state who flees to another state is subject to rendition back to the demanding state upon proper request by the executive authority of that state.

2. International extradition: By treaty, a person who has committed an extraditable offense in one country and fled to another may be surrendered pursuant to the applicable extradition treaty. The rule of specialty — discussed directly in historical sources — limits the surrendering and receiving nations: the extradited person may only be tried for the offense for which extradition was granted, not for collateral or unrelated charges discovered after surrender.

Common Confusion

"Fugitive from justice" and "fugitive from labor" (or "fugitive slave") appear in close proximity in antebellum constitutional texts and some historical legal dictionaries. They arise from different constitutional clauses and carry entirely different legal consequences. Researchers should not conflate them when working in nineteenth-century sources.

Additionally, "from justice" as an abbreviated heading in older digests and encyclopedia entries sometimes generates confusion with "obstruction of justice" — a distinct offense involving interference with judicial processes rather than flight from them.

Why It Matters in Research

The Bouvier entry excerpted here addresses a specific and consequential sub-issue within the "fugitive from justice" doctrine: the rule of specialty in international extradition. Bouvier's citations show a genuine circuit split in the federal courts on whether an extradited defendant could be tried for offenses beyond the one for which extradition was granted. Researchers working in late nineteenth-century federal criminal procedure must account for this unresolved tension — earlier decisions (cited in Bouvier's contra line, including Blatchford-era opinions) took the permissive view, while the weight of authority Bouvier marshals runs the other way.

The rule of specialty has since been substantially developed in federal jurisprudence, but researchers tracing its origins must work through these pre-codification cases directly. Modern statutory treatment and treaty law have largely superseded the common-law baseline reflected in Bouvier, making direct citation to Bouvier's authorities risky without verification of subsequent history.

For interstate rendition contexts, note that the constitutional and statutory framework governing domestic fugitives differs meaningfully from international extradition treaty law. Historical sources frequently blend them under the same "fugitive from justice" heading, which can obscure which legal regime applies to the case under research.

The Rapalje & Lawrence entry provided in the source material does not address this term — the entry retrieved (FLOAT / FLOATABLE STREAM) is unrelated and reflects a cross-reference error in indexing. Researchers should not rely on Rapalje & Lawrence for this topic without independent verification that a relevant entry exists elsewhere in that volume.

Historical Dictionary Support

Bouvier's treatment of "fugitive from justice" is functional rather than conceptual — it proceeds directly to the contested question of trial for different offenses after extradition, citing a substantial string of federal reporters and state court decisions. This is characteristic of Bouvier's later editions, which increasingly operated as a digest of case law rather than a purely definitional resource. The entry is most useful as a roadmap to the late nineteenth-century case law rather than as a statement of settled doctrine.

Bouvier's contra citations acknowledge the split openly, which is a mark of editorial care. The 119 U.S. 407 citation (Ker v. Illinois) is a genuine and significant Supreme Court decision on extradition; researchers working this area should treat it as an anchor point for the period.

Rapalje & Lawrence do not appear to offer a directly relevant entry on this term based on available source material.

Jurisdictional Note

The rule of specialty applies in international extradition and depends heavily on the specific treaty in force between the relevant nations. In the interstate (domestic) context, the constitutional framework is uniform, but state procedural law governing the mechanics of rendition varies. Historical sources tend to treat international and interstate cases together, which can mislead researchers about which rules actually governed.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia: Obstruction of Justice (18 USC 1501-1521) — for the distinction between flight from justice and obstruction of justice proceedings.

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Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

As to trial for a different offence. If sur rendered by a foreign government, an ex tradited criminal can be tried only for the offence for which he was extradited; 14 Fed. Rep. 130; 26 id. 421; 32 id. 911; 18 Bush 697; 39 Ohio St. 273; 10 Tex. App. 627; 119 U. S. 407; contra, 8 Blatchf. 131; 18 id. 295; 6 Crim. L. Mag. 511; 9 Misc. Rep. 600: 81 Hun 336. See 89 Fed. Rep. 204; 28 Am. L. Rev. 568; 82 Am. L. Reg. N. S. 557; Spear, Extrad. 150; 14 Alb. L. J. 91; 28 Cent. L. J. 241; 25 id. 267; 19 id. 22; 19 L. R. A. 206. Extradition treaties of the United States do not guarantee a fugitive an asylum in any foreign country. So far as they regu- late the right of asylum at all, they limit it; 119 U. §. 436; and the laws of the United States do not recognize any right of asy- lum, on the part of a fugitive from justice, in any state to which he has fled; 127 U.S. 900. Under the extradition treaty with Eng- land and Rev. Stat. §§ 5272, 5275, a person brought to this country by extradition pro- ceedings can only be tried for the offence with which he is charged in such proceed- ings; if not tried, or if acquitted after trial, he shall have reasonable time to leave the country before he is arrested for any other crime previously committed; 119 U.S. 407. As between the states of the Union, fugi- tives from justice have no right of asylum, in the international sense; and a fugitive who has been returned by interstate rendi- tion may be tried for other offences than that for which his return was demanded, without violating any rights secured by the constitution or laws of the United States; 127 U. S. 700; 148 id. 537, aff. 90 Ga. 347; 112 N. C. 896; 135 N. Y. 536; 158 Mass. 149; 116 Mo. 505: 119 id. 467; 116 Ind. 51; 89 Ia. 94; 158 Mass. 149; 104 Ala. 4; 60 Wis. 587; 4 Tex. App. 645; 12 Pa. Co. Ct. R. 263; 1 Colo. App. 191; 2 Ohio N. P. 230; 3 Wash. Ty. 131; contra, 41 Fed. Rep. 472; 45 id. 471; 40 Kan. 338; 56 id. 690; 47 Mich. 481. In some states the courts have overruled former decisions, bringing themselves in ac- cord with the United States supreme court; 66 N. W. Rep. (Neb.) 308, rev. 29 Neb. 185; 2 Ohio N. P. 230, rev. 48 Ohio St. 588. As to trial for other offences, see 19 Cent. L. J. 22: 25 id. 267; 28 id. 241; 28 Am. L. Rev. 568; 26 Am. L. Reg. 241; 32 id. 568; 19 L. R. A. 206. A prisoner, regularly committed for trial on criminal process of the state which is in itself regular and valid, cannot be dis- charged because he was brought back from another state on extradition warrants pro- cured by false affidavits; and on that ground alone the federal courts will not release him on habeas corpus; 75 Fed. Rep. 821; nor is a fugitive, who has been kidnapped and brought back into the state where his of- fence was committed, entitled to release on habeas corpus; 9 B. & C. 446; 119 U. S. 436; 18 Fed. Rep. 167. aff. 110 III. 627; 127 U. S. 700, aff. 84 Fed. Rep. 525; 21 Iowa 467; 18 Pa. 87; 1 Bailey 283; 7 Vt. 118; contra, State v. Simmons, 39 Kan. 262. A prisoner cannot set up as a ground for dis- charge that he has been enticed into the state by fraudulent representations; 4 N. Y. Crim. Rep. 576; nor that the extradition proceedings in the other state were irreg- ular; 45 Fed. Rep. 352; 52 Vt. 609. The constitutional provision for inter- state rendition warrants a surrender after conviction; 7 N. Y. Crim. Rep. 406; but after serving his sentence the convict can- not be surrendered under a requisition from another state until he has had reasonable time to return to the state from which he was extradited; id. Extradition proceedings may be made the basis of a suit for malicious prosecution; 16 Fed. Rep. 93. As to questions of practice relating to this subject, see FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE; also, Hurd, Hab. Corp. 592. See Spear; Moore, Extrad.; Rorer, Inter- State Law; 18 Alb. L. J. 146; 10 Am. L. Rev. 617; 28 id. 568; 35 Cent. Law J. 301; paper by H. D. Hyde, Report Am. Bar Assn. for 1880; Hawley, Interst. Extrad.; Hawley, Internat. Extrad.; 35 Am. L. Reg. N. S. 749; St. Louis Law Library catalogue, list of authorities h. t. The word "person" etymologically con- sidered includes citizens as well as those who are not; and while it is the practice of a preponderant number of nations to refuse to deliver its own citizens under a treaty of extradition silent on the point specifically, held, in view of the diplomatic history of the United States, there is no principle of inter- national law by which citizens are excepted from the operation of a treaty to surrender persons where no such exception is made in the treaty itself. The United States has always so construed its treaties. 229 U. S. 448. A person extradited under the treaty of 1899 with Great Britain cannot be punished for an offense other than that for which his extradition has been demanded even though prior to his extradition he had been con- victed and sentenced therefor. While the escape of criminals is to be deprecated, treaties of extradition should be construed

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Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888

FLOAT.- In American land law, especially in the Western States, a certificate authorizing the entry, by the holder, of a certain quantity of land (q. v.) 20 How. (U. S.) 501, 504. FLOATABLE STREAM, (defined). 2 Mich. 519.

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