Public Prosecutor v Ho Ch'ih-Nung

• Date: 22 August 1968
• Court: District Court (China)

Republic of China, District Court of Taipei.

Public Procurator

and

Ho Ch'ih-nung.

Jurisdiction Personal Criminal jurisdiction over offence committed abroad Jurisdiction over national vessel in foreign port.

The Facts (as stated by the Court).Ho Ch'ih-nung was a seaman serving on the S.S. Hsiangyn of the China Navigation Co. Ltd. On 26 August 1965, he sailed on board the said vessel from the Port of Keelung, Taiwan Province, to Baltimore [Maryland] United States. On 10 October of the same year, when the ship arrived at Baltimore he left without permission and never returned to the ship. [He was arrested by the United States authorities and deported to the Republic of China.1] He was prosecuted by the Procurator of this Court.

Held: that the defendant must be sentenced to three months' imprisonment for violating the order issued under Article 11 of the National General Mobilization Law.

The Court said:

According to the defendant's confession: I intended to look for a job in the United States. He therefore left the vessel and did not return. Article 14 of the Measures Governing Seamen during the Period of Suppressing Rebellion provides that a seaman who deserts shall be punished as violating the National General Mobilization Law.[2] There is no doubt that the defendant has violated the order issued by the Government in accordance with Article 11 of the National General Mobilization Law. Consequently, he must be punished in accordance with Article 8, paragraph 3, of the Provisional Act Governing the Punishment for Obstructing National Mobilization.[3] Since an offence committed on board a vessel of the Republic of China outside the territory of the Republic of China must be considered an offence committed within the territory of the Republic of China,[4] the defendant's commission of an offence abroad must still be punished in accordance with the law [of the Republic of China].

[¹ See Chung-yang jih-pao (Central Daily News), international edition, Taipei, 20 July 1968, p. 3.]

[² Article 11 of the National General Mobilization Law, promulgated on 29 March 1942 and effective as of 5 May 1942, provides: Upon enforcement of this Law, the Government may, whenever necessary, impose restrictions on or make adjustment of the employment hire of employees. In accordance with the authorization of Article 11 of the Law, the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) promulgated Measures Governing Seamen during the Period of Suppressing Rebellion on 21 April 1954 (amended on 3 March...