male captus bene detentus

The maxim states the rule that a court's jurisdiction to try an accused is not defeated by the illegal manner in which the accused was brought before it, for example by abduction from another state instead of extradition.

Israel relied on it to try Adolf Eichmann after he was seized in Argentina (1961), and the United States Supreme Court applied the same approach in United States v. Alvarez-Machain (1992). The rule is criticised as encouraging violations of the sovereignty of the state where the capture took place, and several courts, including the House of Lords in R v. Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court, ex p Bennett (1993), have refused to try an accused brought in by abuse of process.

Example

The defence argued that male captus bene detentus could not survive an abduction that breached the extradition treaty.

In Indian law

• Attorney-General of Israel v. Eichmann (Supreme Court of Israel, 1962)

See also

extradition · universal jurisdiction · aut dedere aut judicare