Public International Law and Legal Systems Cases

A series of vocabulary flashcards covering key international and national legal cases, outcomes, and principles as discussed in the lecture notes.

PAQUETE HABANA Case

A $1900$ case originating from the Spanish-American War where the US Supreme Court ruled that coastal fishing vessels, including their equipment and crews, are exempt from capture as prizes of war.

LOTUS Case

A $1927$ case involving France and Turkey that established the principle that states have jurisdiction over acts committed on their flag vessels on the high seas in the absence of contrary international law.

LOTUS Principle

The legal concept arising from the $1927$ LOTUS Case that states have sovereignty and jurisdiction over their own vessels on the high seas.

GENOCIDE CONVENTION Advisory Opinion

A $1951$ ICJ opinion stating that reservations to a treaty are permissible as long as they are consistent with the object and purpose of the convention.

AIR SERVICES AGREEMENT Case

A $1978$ dispute between France and the United States where the court ruled that countermeasures are legal if they are a response to the illegal conduct of another state.

ALABAMA CLAIMS

An $1872$ settlement where the United Kingdom was ordered to pay the United States $15.5$ million in damages for failing to prevent the construction of Confederate warships in British shipyards.

SANTA CATARINA Case

A $1603$ capture of a Portuguese carrack by a Dutch Admiral that led to a national court ruling identifying the seizure as a 'good prize,' exposing European merchants to Asian trade profits.

NORTH SEA CONTINENTAL SHELF Case

An ICJ case occurring between $1967$ and $1969$ where the court rejected the equidistance principle as customary law, favoring an equitable share of oil and gas resources for Germany.

EQUIDISTANCE PRINCIPLE

A methodology for establishing maritime boundaries that was rejected as a binding customary international law in the North Sea Continental Shelf judgment.

JAPANESE WHALING Case

A $2014$ case where the ICJ ruled that Japan's JARPA II program did not qualify as scientific research and was instead for commercial purposes, violating international conventions.

SOUTH CHINA SEA Dispute

An ongoing territorial conflict involving the 'Nine-Dash Line' where a $2016$ arbitral tribunal ruled against China's artificial island-building and historical claims.

NINE-DASH LINE

A controversial demarcation used by China to assert historical claims over most of the South China Sea, which was invalidated by a $2016$ arbitral tribunal under UNCLOS.

JAPAN – TAXES ON ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

An April $1996$ WTO case where Japan's tax system was found to be discriminatory for imposing higher taxes on imported liquors compared to domestic sake and shochu.

NATIONAL TREATMENT PRINCIPLE

A GATT obligation cited in the Japanese alcoholic beverages case requiring that imported products be treated no less favorably than domestic products.

BANANA TRADE WAR

An $8$ November $2012$ resolution of a dispute where the EU's preferential treatment of ACP (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific) countries was found to violate trade principles.

MOST FAVORED NATION (MFN) PRINCIPLE

A GATT requirement that any trade concessions granted to one nation must be extended to all other WTO member countries, which was central to the Banana Trade War ruling.

KICHWA INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF SARAYAKU v. ECUADOR

A June $2012$ case where the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that Ecuador violated indigenous rights by granting oil concessions without prior consultation.

ENERGY WATCHDOG Case

An April $2017$ Indian Supreme Court ruling that an increase in coal prices due to Indonesian law changes did not constitute force majeure for power production contracts.

FORCE MAJEURE

A legal doctrine involving unforeseen events that make performance impossible; it was deemed inapplicable in the Energy Watchdog case as the fundamental basis of the contract remained intact.

NEOPLAN v. ZONDA

An intellectual property case involving bus designs where an initial judgment against ZONDA for patent infringement was reversed in $2012$ by the Beijing High Court.