Ker v. Illinois

Ker v. Illinois, 119 U.S. 436 (1886), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that a fugitive kidnapped from abroad could not claim any violation of the Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States.

The incident that led to this decision involved a Pinkerton Detective Agency agent, Henry Julian, was hired by the federal government to collect a larcenist, Frederick Ker, who had fled to Peru. Although Julian had the necessary extradition papers—the two governments had negotiated an extradition treaty a decade earlier—he found that there was no official to meet his request due to the recent Chilean military occupation of Lima. Rather than return home empty-handed, Julian kidnapped the fugitive, with assistance from Chilean forces, and placed him on a U.S. vessel heading back to the United States.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 119
• Ker-Frisbie Doctrine
• United States v. Rauscher, 119 U.S. 407 (1886)
• Frisbie v. Collins, 342 U.S. 519 (1952)
• United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, 494 U.S. 259 (1990)
• United States v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. 655 (1992)

External links

• Template:Sister-inline
• Text of Ker v. Illinois, 119 U.S. 436 (1886) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress