Key International Law Cases: Lotus and Yahoo
Lotus Case
Parties
France vs. Turkey, PCIJ, 1927
Facts
In this case, a French ship named Lotus and a Turkish ship Boz Kourt collided on the open sea. As a result of the collision, Boz Kourt sank and some crew members died. After Lotus reached Istanbul, Turkey arrested Demos, a crew member of that ship, and also seized the ship Lotus, demanding compensation.
Then France requested Turkey to release the ship Lotus, but Turkey refused. Subsequently, they began the trial in a Turkish court.
Issue
Does Turkey have the authority to try this case?
Judgment
The Permanent Court of International Justice held that both France and Turkey had the authority to try this case, and Turkey had done nothing wrong by trying the case in its court. The court further held that in different circumstances, the flag state has the primary authority to judge a case, but this does not mean that a state has no standing to judge a crime committed by its citizens on its territory.
Yahoo! Inc. Case
Brief Fact Summary
This case is an appeal of the judgment by a French court in LICRA et UEJF v. Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! appealed on grounds that compliance interfered with U.S. constitutional free speech guarantees.
Facts
Following the French court judgment, Yahoo! Inc. posted a warning on Yahoo.fr to French citizens that searches might lead them to items that violate French law. Yahoo! Inc. also prohibited the auctioning of items on its website that promoted racist groups, with the exception of government-issue stamps and coins. It established a more permissive stance on items of personal expression, such as books or films. Yahoo! did not attempt to technologically prevent French citizens from accessing websites auctioning any item.
Discussion
A different result in this case would have serious implications. If other countries can block information on the Internet and impose their customs and values on the rest of the world, the Internet would distribute only the least and most generic information, which would result in an extreme restriction of American rights to free speech.