Caso Ss Wimbledon

I. Case of the S.S. Wimbledon (PCIJ, Ser. A., No. 1, 1923) II. Facts A. The British, French, Italian, and Japanese Governments filed an application with the registry of the court (PCIJ) on January16, 1923 against the German Government for refusing a steamship right of passage. The PCIJ heard and decided the case on August 17, 1923. B. On March 21, 1921, the German government refused to let theEnglish steamship Wimbledon (chartered by a French company “Les Affreteurs Reunis”) pass through the Kiel Canal. The ship picked up 4,200 tons of ammunition and artillery stores in Salonica, Greece, tobe brought to the Polish Naval Base at Danzig, but when the ship arrived at the entrance to the Kiel Canal it was refused passage because of the German neutrality order in accordance with theRusso-Polish war. The French Ambassador in Berlin asked the Germans to allow the S.S. Wimbledon passage, and several days later the German Government responded that it couldn’t allow the vessel to passbecause of the military cargo that it carried. The French company then told the ship to go to Danzig via the Danish Straits, resulting in the cargo arriving thirteen days late- eleven for detainment by theGermans and two for the extra time it took to go the alternate route. Diplomatic relations between the states did not end in a resolution, so the matter was then brought before the League of Nationsand thus the Permanent Court of International Justice to hear the case. C. The plaintiffs in this case are the British, French, Japanese, and Italian governments who claim that Germany violatedArticles 380 to 386 of the Treaty of Versailles, which, among other things, states that the Kiel Canal will remain “free and open to the vessels of commerce of war of all nations at peace with Germany onterms of entire equality.” The plaintiffs argue that despite the cargo on the ship, the nation chartering the ship was not at war with Germany and thus should have been allowed passage. D. The...