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a grand jury; that no person shall be subject, for the same offence,
to be twice put in jeopardy of his life or limb, nor shall be compelled
in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived
of life, liberty or property without due process of law; that exces-
sive bail shall not be required; nor excessive fines imposed; nor
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
In a constitution formed under such circumstances, with such ob-
jects, and containing such provisions, one would not expect to find a
clause specifying the cases where the demand of a fugitive from jus-
tice might be made by one state upon another, which could only be
justified by a doubt of the justice, humanity and clemency of the dif-
ferent parties to it. On the contrary, one would look in such a clause
for an expression of the greatest confidence, by each of the states as
parties, in all the rest in these particulars. Nor can your committee
believe that a clause in such a constitution, securing to one state the
most unlimited right to demand, and imposing upon another the most
unqualified duty to surrender fugitives from justice, would impair the
security of civil liberty. And such a clause your committee believes
the 2nd section of the 4th article to be. The second paragraph of
that section is in these words: "A person charged in any state with
treason, felony or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found
in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the
state from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state
having jurisdiction of the crime." The words treason, felony and
crime are common law terms. The common law was the law of the
land in each of the states which were parties to the constitution, and
the terms of it were familiar to its framers. They must, therefore,
be taken to have been used in their common law sense. Your com-
mittee will not stop to enquire into the meaning of the terms treason
and felony in this constitution; they will confine such enquiry to the
word crime, that being the most comprehensive term used. Black-
stone defines a crime thus: "A crime or misdemeanour is an act com-
mitted or omitted in violation of the public law either forbidding or
commanding it." He goes on to say: "This general definition com-
prehends both crimes and misdemeanours, which properly speaking,
are mere synonymous terms." Misdemeanour is generally used in
contradistinction to felony, and misdemeanours comprehend all in-
dictable offences which do not amount to felony, as perjury, libels, &c.
Your committee flatters itself that it has shewn already that the 2d
section of the 4th article of the constitution of the United States is not
a mere recognition of the principle of the law of nations, regulating
the right to demand by one nation and the duty to surrender by ano-
ther, fugitives from justice; but that the clause is much more com-
prehensive, and was designed as between the states of this Union, to
provide a more perfect remedy than was afforded by the law of na-
tions.
But if a further argument was necessary to enforce this view of the
subject, it might be derived from the first paragraph of this very 2d
section of the 4th article. That paragraph is in these words: "The
citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities
of citizens in the several states." The first paragraph of this section
secures to the citizens of each state all the privileges and immunities
of citizen in the several states; and the second paragraph but en-
forces correlative obligations and duties. Thus are the privileges and
obligations of the citizens made reciprocal. The citizen of one state,
while he is within the jurisdiction of another, is entitled to all the im-
munities of a citizen of that state; but if he violate her laws, he is sub-
ject to the same punishment.
If any doubt should still exist as to the correctness of this position,
it would be removed, in the opinion of your committee, by the pro-
ceedings of the convention which framed the constitution, in relation
to this clause.
"The original articles of confederation contained a clause in the
following words:
"'If any person guilty of, or charged with treason, felony, or other
high misdemeanour in any state, shall flee from justice, and be found
in any of the United States, he shall, upon demand of the government
or executive power of the state from which he fled, be delivered up
and removed to the state having jurisdiction of his offence.'
"In the convention of 1787, the committee to whom were referred
the proceedings of the convention, for the purpose of reporting a con-
stitution, reported a draft, in which the fifteenth article was as fol-
lows:
"'Any person charged with treason, felony, or high misdemeanour
in any state, shal, on demand of the executive power of the state from
which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the state having juris-
diction of the offence.'
"When the draft was before the convention, on the 28th of August,
1787, it was moved to strike out the words. 'high misdemeanour,'
and insert the words, 'other crimes;' which motion pass in the affir-
mative."
And your committee will add that there has been a late decision in
New York sustaining this view.
In the matter of Clark, (9 Wendell, 212,) the then governor of New
York and the chief justice of the state, in conformity with these views,
both decided, that a person who was charged with a misdemeanour
only, in one state, and had fled into another, ought to be delivered up
upon the demand of the executive of the state within which the of-
fence was alleged to be committed. And the misdemeanour charged
in that instance, was not one which was recognized as such by the
universal law of all civilized countries, but at common law amounted
only to a breach of trust. This decision was made after the most
elaborate argument and investigation.
The 2d section of the 4th article of the constitution as thus con-
strued, is just such a provision as the convenient administration of
justice demanded. Each state having confidence in the justice and
clemency of the others, nothing forbade, and convenience required,
that an offender who had committeed a crime in one state, no matter
where found, should be removed to that state for trial. Most likely,
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