Public Prosecutor v Li Te Hua

• Jurisdiction: China
• Date: 21 September 1967
• Court: District Court (China)

Republic of China (Formosa), District Court of Taipei.

Public Prosecutor

and

Li Te-hua.

Jurisdiction Personal Over nationals in respect of crimes committed abroad The law of the Republic of China.

Li Te-hua, a Chinese national living in the Republic of the Philippines, killed a Philippine woman on 4 January 1967 and escaped to the Province of Taiwan (Republic of China) on 5 January 1967. On 16 January 1967 the Philippine authorities notified the Chinese authorities of the case. Li was arrested and prosecuted under Article 271 of the Chinese Criminal Code for the crime of homicide.1 The Taipei District Court sentenced him to fifteen years' imprisonment.

With respect to the question of jurisdiction, the Court said:

Although the place of commission of the crime was outside the territory of the Republic of China, nevertheless the minimum punishment for the crime of homicide is imprisonment for not less than ten years and according to Article 7 of the Chinese Criminal Code[2] Chinese criminal law is applicable to that crime [even if it was commited abroad].

¹ Article 271, paragraph 1, provides: A person who kills another shall be punished with death, imprisonment for life, or [imprisonment] for not less than ten years.

[² Article 7 provides: This Code shall apply to an offence which is committed by a citizen of the...