The Lotus Case

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The Lotus Case concerns a criminal trial which was the result of the August 2, 1926 collision between S.S. Lotus, a French steamship (or steamer), and the S.S. Boz-Kourt a Turkish steamer in a region just north of Mitylene. The case was presented before the Permanent Court of International Justice, the judicial branch of the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations.

As a result of the accident, eight Turkish nationals aboard the Boz-Kourt drowned when the vessel was torn apart by the Lotus.

The issue at stake was Turkey's jurisdiction to try the French officer in watch at the time of the collision. Since the collision occurred in high seas, France claimed that only the flag state had exclusive jurisdiction over the matter. France proffered case law, through which it attempted to show at least state practice in support of its position. However, those cases both involved ships that flew the flag of the flag state and were thus easily distinguishable. The Court, therefore, rejected France's position stating that there was no rule to that effect in international law.

This principle was later overruled by article 11 (1) of the High Seas Convention, 1958, which emphasised that only the flag state or the state of which the alleged offender was a national had jurisdiction over sailors regarding incidents occurring in high seas.