UNUSUAL LEGAL CASE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22466, 29 July 1938, Page 12

UNUSUAL LEGAL CASE

♦ Special Sitting of Court Of Appeal DECISION IN EXTRADITION APPLICATION IFrom Our Parliamentary Reporter.! WELLINGTON, July 28. An event unusual in the legal history of New Zealand will take place m Auckland next Wednesday, when a special sitting of the Court of Appeal will be held "within the Supreme Court House at half past ten o'clock in the forenoon." The sitting will be to deal with an extradition case of some importance and as far as the records show this will, be only the second occasion which the Court of Appeal has sat outside Wellington. The previous occasion was in Christchurch about 40 years ago. The case which will engage the attention of the Court is an appeal by Detective-Sergeant C. E. Godwin, of the New South Wales police force, against the decision of Mr C. R. Orr Walker, S.M., in respect of an extradition warrant issued in Sydney directing the apprehension and return to New South Wales of the person who is named in the warrant and who is required to answer a criminal charge.

There has been some variance in the decisions of the Australian and New Zealand Courts in extradition proceedings and because of this special interest attaches to the case to be heard next week. It is stated in tbe Gazette notice announcing the special sitting of the Court of Appeal that tbe question is one of great importance an which, in the interests of comity between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand, it has long been deemed desirable to obtain a decision by the Court at Appeal of the Dominion. It is also stated to be essential *» the interests both of the liberty «f the subject and of the administration of criminal justice that the person who is alleged to be the fugitive oganrtf and whose extradition is sought should not be unduly detained in New Zealand pending the determination of tbe question. Three judges of the Supreme Court. including the Chief Justice (the St Hon. Sir Michael Myers) have accordingly certified that it is not desirable or expedient that the hearing should be deterred until the next ordinary sitting of the Court of Appeal on September 12 and authority had been given for a special sitting to be held. As the Court is being held at a time which conflicts with the normal en J gagements of the judges some difficulty has probably been experienced in arranging the composition of the Court However, it is suggested that the Court will comprise the Chief Justice; Mr Justice Fair, Mr Justice Callan, Mr Justice Kennedy, and Mr Justice Northcroft.