[CLT-CALS] Book Launch: Extradition and Empire by Ivan Lee, National University of Singapore

In the book launch held on 6 October 2025, Assistant Professor Ivan of the National University of Singapore presented his latest work Extradition and Empire: Sovereignty and Subjecthood in Hong Kong (Cambridge University Press, 2025), the first comprehensive study of the imperial history of extradition in Hong Kong. Drawing from rich archival and legal sources, Ivan traced how British judges, lawyers, and officials navigated the legal and moral boundaries of criminal jurisdiction within the colonial setting. The book illuminates the ways extradition, deportation, and rendition reflected the contested legal status of Chinese subjects under the Opium War treaties and the broader transformations of British imperial law between 1842 and 1873.

By examining these debates, Ivan situated extradition at the intersection of sovereignty, criminal justice, and empire, revealing how the emergence of British Hong Kong as a colonial frontier was shaped by tensions between territorial and extraterritorial legalities. The study challenged conventional understandings of imperial legal order, showing that the law of extradition functioned as a critical mechanism through which Britain consolidated its authority over subject populations while negotiating the reach of imperial jurisdiction. In doing so, Extradition and Empire reframes the history of Hong Kong’s legal system as part of a wider project of imperial governance—one that transformed the colony into a legally homogeneous yet politically stratified space.

Ultimately, Ivan’s analysis not only reconfigures our understanding of nineteenth-century British legal thought but also invites reflection on the enduring legacies of empire in shaping modern notions of sovereignty, legality, and subjecthood across postcolonial Asia.