SOERING v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
8
such requirement and would present no factual or legal opposition against
the making or execution of an order to that effect.
II.
RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW AND PRACTICE IN THE UNITED
KINGDOM
A. Criminal law
27. In England murder is defined as the unlawful killing of a human
being with malice aforethought. The penalty is life imprisonment. The death
penalty cannot be imposed for murder (Murder (Abolition of the Death
Penalty) Act 1965, section 1). Section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957 provides
that where a person kills another, he shall not be convicted of murder if he
was suffering from such abnormality of mind (whether arising from a
condition of arrested development of mind or any inherent causes or
induced by disease or injury) as substantially impaired his mental
responsibility for his acts in doing the killing. A person who but for the
section would be liable to be convicted of murder shall be liable to be
convicted of manslaughter.
28. English courts do not exercise criminal jurisdiction in respect of acts
of foreigners abroad except in certain cases immaterial to the present
proceedings. Consequently, neither the applicant, as a German citizen, nor
Elizabeth Haysom, a Canadian citizen, was or is amenable to criminal trial
in the United Kingdom.
B. Extradition
29.
The relevant general law on extradition is contained in the
Extradition Acts 1870-1935.
30. The extradition arrangements between the United Kingdom and the
United States of America are governed by the Extradition Treaty signed by
the two Governments on 8 June 1972, a Supplementary Treaty signed on 25
June 1982, and an Exchange of Notes dated 19 and 20 August 1986
amending the Supplementary Treaty. These arrangements have been
incorporated into the law of the United Kingdom by Orders in Council (the
United States of America (Extradition) Order 1976, S.I. 1976/2144 and the
United States of America (Extradition) (Amendment) Order 1986, S.I.
1986/2020).
By virtue of Article I of the Extradition Treaty, "each Contracting Party
undertakes to extradite to the other, in the circumstances and subject to the
conditions specified in this Treaty, any person found in its territory who has
been accused or convicted of any offence [specified in the Treaty and
including murder], committed within the jurisdiction of the other Party".