Public International Law case laws

After a French ship collided with a Turkish ship on the high seas, the P.C.I.J. held in 1927 that Turkey could try the French officer, because international law did not forbid it. The case gave the 'Lotus principle': a State is free to act unless a rule of international law prohibits it. Its specific rule on collisions at sea was later reversed by treaty, now Article 97 of UNCLOS, 1982.