''Jus de non evocando'' is an ancient feudal right stating that no one can be kept from the competent court. It derives from a medieval principle that subjects of the Crown were entitled to ''ius de non evocando'', the right to enjoy the jurisdiction and the protection of the Crown to which they were loyal. As such, it is still present in several constitutions, such as the

German constitution The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came in ...

, the

Italian constitution The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...

and the

Dutch constitution The Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) is one of two fundamental documents governing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as well as the fundamental law of the European territory of the ...

. It has today become an important concept in

public international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

by which states refuse to

extradite Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

their own citizens. Some countries may refuse to extradite non-nationals, who because of their crimes may be subject to the death penalty. That may be seen in the case of Canada and Mexico towards the United States. The principle is frequently argued in cases of the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nation ...

(ICTR) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavi (ICTY). The foundation lies in that the international tribunal, by seizing jurisdiction over an international criminal trial from national courts, violates the principle of ''jus de non evocando''. The Trial Chamber, in the case of Dusko Tadic (IT-94-1 of the ICTY), stated that states give up some measure of sovereignty to be a part of the UN, which produced the ICTY, and so there is no violation.Interlocutory Decision on Jurisdiction
- 02.10.1995 TADIĆ Duško (IT-94-1-AR72)

References

{{reflist International law Latin legal terminology