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    Paquete Habana Case Context: These Events Transpired During A Time of War Between Spain and The US. The Ships Were Cuban, and at This

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    Benedict Estrella
    This case concerned whether two Spanish fishing vessels, the Paquete Habana and Lola, that were seized by the U.S. during the Spanish-American war could be considered prizes of war. While the district court ruled they could be seized, the Supreme Court overturned this, finding that it is an established rule of international law, as recognized by many nations and scholars, that unarmed coastal fishing vessels are exempt from capture or condemnation as prizes of war. The Court held that in the absence of any treaty or legislation, it is appropriate to refer to customary international law, and international consensus at the time was that fishing vessels should not be subject to seizure due to their non-military nature and importance for food supply.

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    Paquete Habana Case Context: These Events Transpired During A Time of War Between Spain and The US. The Ships Were Cuban, and at This

    Uploaded by

    Benedict Estrella
    122 views1 page
    This case concerned whether two Spanish fishing vessels, the Paquete Habana and Lola, that were seized by the U.S. during the Spanish-American war could be considered prizes of war. While the district court ruled they could be seized, the Supreme Court overturned this, finding that it is an established rule of international law, as recognized by many nations and scholars, that unarmed coastal fishing vessels are exempt from capture or condemnation as prizes of war. The Court held that in the absence of any treaty or legislation, it is appropriate to refer to customary international law, and international consensus at the time was that fishing vessels should not be subject to seizure due to their non-military nature and importance for food supply.

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    Paquete-Habana-Case

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    This case concerned whether two Spanish fishing vessels, the Paquete Habana and Lola, that were seized by the U.S. during the Spanish-American war could be considered prizes of war. While the district court ruled they could be seized, the Supreme Court overturned this, finding that it is an established rule of international law, as recognized by many nations and scholars, that unarmed coastal fishing vessels are exempt from capture or condemnation as prizes of war. The Court held that in the absence of any treaty or legislation, it is appropriate to refer to customary international law, and international consensus at the time was that fishing vessels should not be subject to seizure due to their non-military nature and importance for food supply.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    122 views1 page

    Paquete Habana Case Context: These Events Transpired During A Time of War Between Spain and The US. The Ships Were Cuban, and at This

    Uploaded by

    Benedict Estrella
    This case concerned whether two Spanish fishing vessels, the Paquete Habana and Lola, that were seized by the U.S. during the Spanish-American war could be considered prizes of war. While the district court ruled they could be seized, the Supreme Court overturned this, finding that it is an established rule of international law, as recognized by many nations and scholars, that unarmed coastal fishing vessels are exempt from capture or condemnation as prizes of war. The Court held that in the absence of any treaty or legislation, it is appropriate to refer to customary international law, and international consensus at the time was that fishing vessels should not be subject to seizure due to their non-military nature and importance for food supply.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Paquete Habana Case

    Context: These events transpired during a time of war between Spain and the US. The ships were Cuban, and at this
    time, Cuba was still a colony of Spain. This case concerns the rule that exempts fishing boats as war prizes during times
    of war. The two vessels were called Paquete Habana and Lola respectively.

    Facts:

    - This was an appeal made by the judgement of District Court of the US against the southern district of Florida for
    condemning two fishing vessels as prizes of war
    - These ships sailed with the flag of Spain and regularly fished in and out of Havana, Cuba
    - The owners of the vessels were Spanish subjects and they also lived in Havana.
    - They were going about their normal route when the ships were stopped by a US blockade, condemned without
    resistance by the crew, and then sent to the Southern District of Florida to be auctioned.

    Defense of the US:

    - Several days after capturing the vessel, President McKinley declared that the war should be conducted in
    harmony of the present views of nations and sanctioned by recent practice.
    - The admiral who commanded the blockade stated that the fishermen were seasoned sailors and would then be
    valuable assets if they were conscripted into the army of Spain, and that it should be the admirals who shall
    determine if the fishing vessels should actually be exempted from being prizes of war.

    Issue:

    - W/N that, in the absence of any treaty or local legislation, the court may reference established international
    rules followed by other nations?

    Held:

    - Yes. The court ruled that as it was a well-established rule in international law that fishermen should not be
    captured and considered as prizes of war due to their non-military nature and importance to society in general.
    And since back then there was no law particularly addressing situations like these, the court deemed it proper to
    be bound by internationally established rules.
    - In deliberating this, the court referenced a lot of old works referencing the rule on exempting fishermen, going
    from the King of England to Spanish, French, German, and even Japanese authors and jurists, only emphasizing
    the fact that this was an established practice.
    - As for the defense of the US, it was clearly shown that the vessel was non-hostile and even acquiesced to being
    captured peacefully. It was clear that both vessels were just simple fishermen boats.

    Ratio:

    - The court deemed it proper to be bound by the established rules of international law because these rules were
    tried, tested, and true. The court deemed that when it comes to questions of right that needed to be
    determined, and when no law has been established to help determine this right, we should rely on customs that
    have already been tested throughout the years by civilized nations as supposed to just speculating what it ought
    to be.
    - It would be unwise to capture fishing boats as prizes of war as it would scare off the fishermen from fishing and
    cripple the food supply.

    Specific Quotations:

    “International law is part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate
    jurisdiction as often as questions of right depending upon it are duly presented for their determination. For this purpose,
    where there is no treaty and no controlling executive or legislative act or judicial decision, resort must be had to the
    customs and usages of civilized nations, and, as evidence of these, to the works of jurists and commentators, not for the
    speculations of their authors concerning what the law ought to be, but for trustworthy evidence of what the law really
    is.

    At the present day, by the general consent of the civilized nations of the world and independently of any express treaty
    or other public act, it is an established rule of international law that coast fishing vessels, with their implements and
    supplies, cargoes and crews, unarmed and honestly pursuing their peaceful calling of catching and bringing in fresh fish,
    are exempt from capture as prize of war. And this rule is one which prize courts, administering the law of nations, are
    bound to take judicial notice of, and to give effect to, in the absence of any treaty or other public act of their own
    government in relation to the matter.”

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