705 / 736
(Ij That a territory is an area over which a con
tracting party exercised effective jurisdiction,
and that the Israeli Government exercised de
facto authority over Jerusalem, and
that,
therefore, Jerusalem was within the territory
of Israel.
(2) That in Habeas Corpus proceedings under
the Extradition Act which had previously
been before the magistrate, the Court would
not re-hear the case other than considering
whether there was a political issue involved.
(3) That
if additional evidence related to
the
character of the crimes charged, it would be
admissible.
(4) That in this case the appellant had merely
involved himself in a family quarrel, which
was not an offence of a political character.
There was also the case of the Polish seaman
who was granted asylum after jumping from
his ship in London Docks. The attempt to
leave Poland was deemed good on political
grounds.
The Irish Extradition Act was drafted on a
similar Convention of the Council of Europe;
the principles must depend on reasons set out in
the judgments. In the Bourke case, the Supreme
Court held on 31st July, 1970 that Bourke had
been involved in an offence (helping Blake to
escape) which was connected with a political
offence (espionage). This argument may possibly
allow ordinary criminals to escape surrender, and
it was also effective in the Magee case in the
Supreme Court (31st July, 1970), though not in
the recent Keane case in the House of Lords
where reasons have not yet been given.
Apart from political asylum, there remains the
question of
the right of a citizen to receive reason
able treatment in an alien country.
Under Article
19 of the European Social Charter, steps have
been taken between countries for the co-ordin
ation of relevant social services and for easing the
re-uniting of families. However, a dependant of a
British Asian or African subject would not appear
to be allowed to enter Britain if he has to undergo
intensive medical treatment.
There was also the recent case of a Portuguese
girl and her mother resident in Jersey. The girl
became pregnant and the authorities deported her
on moral grounds.
The
legal obligations of freedom of move
ment within
the European Community
in
clude an obligation to provide social security
for migrant workers and reasonable benefits; there
is no doubt that the social security standards are
infinitely higher on the Continent, and Britain
cannot even conform with the minimum standards
of social security laid down by the International
Labour Office.
To sum up, the idea of freedom of movement is
desirable but it is too much restricted by adminis
trative discretion, which gives administrators free
dom to evade the statutes. This discretion should
be exercised narrowly, and not widely; particularly
when there is in fact no control of aliens as be
tween here and Britain. It was amazing that a
Norwegian who escaped from custody in Dublin
airport, and was subsequently recaptured in a
hotel, was not given an opportunity to test whether
the Danish warrant under which he was held in
fact warranted extradition; this undesirable prac
tice should be discontinued. There was conse
quently a need for the codification of rules govern
ing freedom of movement, particularly in apply
ing the American principle of "due process" to it.
MINISTERIAL VIEWS ON
AUCTIONEERS'
FEES
IN CONFLICT
Two differing Ministerial views on the scale
of auctioneers' fees in this country were made
apparent in Dublin yesterday, when the Minister
for Labour, Mr. Brennan, told an auctioneers
gathering that he believed, under certain circum
stances, that the threatened reduction in fees was
unnecessary.
Mr. Brennan, who was addressing the inaugural
luncheon of the Irish Auctioneers' and Valuers'
Institute, in the Gresham Hotel, said that if real
estate agents in this country were to raise their
professional standards and provide as high a ser
vice as possible to their clients, then they would
fully prove their own argument that the present
fees structure would remain unchanged.
If they were willing to do this, he said, they
would "provide the best answer to arguments that
the fees should be reduced".
243
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