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Is the Lotus Principle considered a

customary international law?

All related (31) Recommended

Alex
Former Professional Consultant · Author has 158
answers and 241.6K answer views · Updated 4y

There are two aspects to this question.

1. what is the Lotus Principle?

2. What is customary international law?

The Lotus principle arose from a collision of the S S

Lotus, a French registered ship and a Turkish
registered ship, the S S Bozkurt, near the port of
Mytilene (Greece) on 2 August 1926. Eight Turkish
sailors went thrown overboard and drowned when
the French steamer tore into the Turkish ship. (Case
of the SS Lotus vs SS Bozkurt (France v Turkey)).

Criminal charges was pressed against Monsieur

Demons, the French officer of the deck at time of
collision. Preliminary legal issue was jurisdiction. The
case was filed at the Permanent International Court
of Justice. Turkey wanted to try M Demons in a
Turkish court but France argued that as the Lotus
was a French ship sailing in international waters and
the officer was a French National, the case should
rightly be tried in France. On 7 September 1927 the
case was heard before the ICJ. The France’s
argument was rejected by a bare 6–5 majority and
the ICJ distinguished cases in support on the
grounds that those caselaw involved ships flying the
same flags.

The Lotus principle that emerged from the case

states that a state is free to do whatever unless
expressly prohibited.

The old judgement in the Lotus case was effectively

revoked by Article 11 of the international Convention
of the High Seas 1958 restores the French position..
Only flag state vessels and nationals of the state can
have the jurisdiction to try sailors for their acts and
omissions on the high seas.

Prior to 1958, the law of the high seas was based on

customary law. Because of the unsatisfactory and
bare majority judgement in the Lotus case this was
revoked by Article 11 of the International Convention
of the Zhuhai Seas 1958, after which date it became
public international law.
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Olivier Simon
PhD in public international law · Author has 44… · 7y
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Related International Law: What is the status
or legitimacy of the 'Lotus presumption' in
international law today?
Except for supranomrmative rules like "Jus cogens",
this presumption still plays. "Restrictions to the
sovereignty of States are not to be presumed"
according to the "Lotus" case, and as far as I know it
has still the same value nowadays as in the 1920s.
The Lotus obiter dictum is a guideline on how to
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("a fact") that may violate Reading
Continue another State's
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Manmeet Singh Arora

Studied at Ravenshaw University, Cuttack · Aut… · 7y
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Related What is a customary norm in
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Customary international law are those aspects of
international law that study the principle of
custom. Along with general principles of law and
treaties , custom is considered by the International
Court of Justice , jurists , the United Nations ,
and its member states to be among the primary
sources of international law .

The vast majority of the world's governments accept

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customary international law in Article 38(1)(b) as
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Daniel McLindon
Honours in Law & Financial Economics (college … · 5y
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) What are the elements of customary
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rule of international law?
North Sea Continental Shelf Case established and
elaborated on 2 rules for international custom.
First, State Practice: At least 2 states must engage in
unanimous, identifiable conduct, whether that be
actively doing something or as in the Lotus Case,
actively omitting from doing something, however
such an omission must still be actively identifiable.

Second, Opinio Juris: There must be evidence that

the reason for such state practice is that the states in
question conduct themselves in such a manner
because they feelContinue
there is a legal obligation to do so.
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Eric M Ortega
Author has 2.5K answers and 397.6K answer vie… 1y
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Related When does a norm become binding
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of factors, including the consistent
Continue Reading and widespread
practice of states, formal stateme
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Avigael Ester
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RelatedWhat are general principles of

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