The “Lotus”-case and the U. S. Control on the High Seas

• Main Author: Ekaterina S. Anyanova
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) 2015-03-01
• Series: Московский журнал международного права
• Subjects: охрана мореплавания; терроризм на море; транспортировка оружия массового уничтожения; дело «лотус»; исключительная юрисдикция государства флага; maritime security; terrorism at sea; transportation of weapons of mass destruction; the “lotus” case; exclusive jurisdiction of the flag state
• Online Access: https://www.mjil.ru/jour/article/view/68

The article considers the issue of the existing gap in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 in the regulation of the suppression of terrorism at sea and transportation of the weapon of mass destruction at sea by means of the intergovernmental Proliferation Security Initiative on the weapon of mass destruction, Protocols of2005 to the Convention on the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of maritime navigation, 1988 and Protocol for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of fixed platform located on the continental shelf. Legal aspects of the suppression of terrorism at sea and weapon of mass destruction transportation are considered with emphasis on the principle of the exclusive jurisdiction of the flag state over the vessel on the high seas. This principle was first fixed in the international law in 1927 in the judgment of the Permanent Court of International Justice in the “Lotus” case.