I put this here in Higher Ed because this is a question for the law students here. And I actually started thinking about this when I was a small child. It was shortly after the war in Vietnam and I was wondering if a draft dodger could go to a church and claim right of sanctuary to escape the war. People who I asked back then either said they thought not or weren't sure. So is there a law of sanctuary? I live in the US so I am of course talking about English-speaking countries. But what about the rest of Europe? What about places like South America? A universal right? Or do any of these places like that have a right of sanctuary at all? And can you use it to escape arrest, like in the Victor Hugo novel the Hunchback of Notre-Dame? Could you use it to escape the draft? Or is this just another urban legend? (It's interesting, because like in the novel it would only help you while you were in the church. So the church would have to be in on it and they would have to keep you there as long as necessary.)
In 1968 Bruce Beyer and nine others took sanctuary in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo. They lasted ten days until U.S. Marshals, FBI agents, and the Buffalo Police stormed the church using blackjacks to "clear the aisle". Beyer and two others got three years.
The only one I know that by principle was strictly followed by citizens and government back in the day was Puúhonua o Honaunau in Hawaii. Called the city of Refuge, citizens who broke laws or customs had to get there and when they jumped the lava rock walls--they could not be touched by ANYONE. After a certain amount of time--they could leave and were completely forgiven.I lived above the location which is on the west side of the Big Island south of Kona in 1970 and there were no buildings, no tourists ---nothing except the walls and raised platforms. Now it is a little different.
