Report No. 43
2.10. Provisions in foreign Codes based on the protective principle.-
This principle has been accepted in the Penal Codes of several nations. Thus in France1 it is provided that "every foreigner who outside the territory of the Republic renders himself guilty, either as perpetrator or as accomplice of a felony or misdemeanor against the security of the state or the counterfeiting of the seal of the State or current national monies, may be prosecuted and tried according to the provisions of French law if he is arrested in France or if the Government obtains his extradition".
The German Penal Code provides2 that "Regardless of the law of the place of commission, the German Criminal law is applicable to conduct amounting to high treason or treason against the German Federal Republic or one of her member States, as well as felonies of constitutional treason."
In the Swiss Federal Penal Code, 1942, Article 4 provides that "whoever commits in a foreign country any felony or misdemeanor against [Switzerland], carries on an illegal news service, establishes an illegal organisation, or disturbs military security shall be subject to this law."
In the Draft Penal Code of Japan it is proposed in Article 5 that "the Code shall apply to an alien who, being outside Japan, commits a crime against the State of Japan or a Japanese national, punishable by death, or imprisonment or confinement for life or for a maximum term of five years or more: provided that this shall not apply when such act is not criminal under the law of the place of offence."
1. Section 694 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure, 1958.
2. Section 4, Para. 3.
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