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The Lotus Principle In Icj Jurisprudence: Was The Ship Ever Afloat?, Hugh Handeyside

Michigan Journal of International Law

But Lotus has perhaps drawn as much criticism as affirmation. Ian Brownlie observes that "[i]n most respects the Judgment of the Court is unhelpful in its approach to the principles of jurisdiction, and its pronouncements are characterized by vagueness and generality." Nor does there appear to be any clear consensus on the decision's core holdings; in fact, commentators have read the decision in alarmingly divergent ways. This Note avoids the legal cacophony surrounding the specific holdings of the Lotus decision, focusing instead on the Lotus principle. Scholars have persistently (and often uncritically) taken the Lotus principle at face value, citing …