Sanctuary

[claymore]

Friend of mine was telling me that many years ago if you were being pursued by someone, be it the police , the authorities even the Mafia i suppose, you could ask for sanctuary in the church and they were obliged to give it. What did this mean, did they hide you or what?. He seemed to think that it would still be the case today

[jake-the-peg]

http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf /K2PGlossary?readform&GLOSSARY=Right+of+Sanctu ary

I don't think it survived the reformation

[claymore]

Thanks Jake , I don`t think I would have relied on sanctuary if the likes of the Gestapo or the KGB were after me.

[China Doll]

You could do it up at St Pauls I seem to remember reading as well. Unless that's what Jake's link says in which case I'll just shut up.

[Octavius]

The idea remains though - albeit not through the Church - by the Right of Asylum.

Article 14 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

"Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution".

and in the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol
which prohibits the return of people persecuted on grounds of race, religion, nationality or membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

I'm not sure the mafia would pay much attention to any asylum really though, unless it meant putting you in one.