''Re Burley'' (1865), 1 U.C.L.J. 34, was a decision on extradition by the Court of Common Pleas of Upper Canada. Though made two years before Confederation, the case has been cited by the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

in mobility rights and extradition cases over a century later.

Decision

The decision was made by Sir William Buell Richards, who would later go on to become the first Chief Justice of Canada after the

was established in 1875. Richards was faced with a case in which a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

who was going to be extradited to the United States claimed that by virtue of his nationality, he had a right to stay in Canada. Richards upheld the extradition as a matter of treaty law and noted Canadian statutes that seemed to recognize such extradition as legal:

Precedent

Even after Confederation, the creation of

Canadian citizenship Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in Ca ...

and the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which recognized freedom of movement in section 6, the case was cited by the Supreme Court. In ''

Canada v. Schmidt ''Canada v Schmidt'', 9871 S.C.R. 500, is a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada on the applicability of fundamental justice under the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' on extradition. While fundamental justice in Canada included a va ...

'' (1987), the case was cited to state that Canada should trust the nations to which it extradites people carry out trials. In '' United States of America v. Cotroni'' (1989),''United States of America v. Cotroni; United States of America v. El Zein'',

989 Year 989 (Roman numerals, CMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Basil II uses his contingent of 6,000 Varangians to he ...

1 S.C.R. 1469. the Court upheld an extradition as a justified limit on section 6 and noted that the limit was partially reinforced by the fact that extradition had been allowed for "well over one hundred years" and thus "extradition has been part of the fabric of our law. ''Re Burley'' was cited to make the point that since criminals can easily escape from the US to Canada, it had been "imperative that little leniency be accorded citizens in this regard." Later, in the Supreme Court case ''

United States v. Burns ''United States v Burns'' 0011 S.C.R. 283, 2001 SCC 7, was a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that found that extradition of individuals to countries in which they may face the death penalty is a breach of fundamental justice under secti ...

'' (2001), the Court was faced with the claim that Canadian citizens faced with extradition to the US had a right to stay and be tried in Canada. The Court cited ''Re Burley'' to state, "Traditionally, nationality has afforded no defence to extradition from Canada."

References

{{Canada-law-stub Canadian immigration and refugee case law 1865 in Canadian case law Foreign relations of Canada Canadian extradition case law Canadian law articles needing infoboxes