Russian Raids on Neutral Commerce

Authors

Edwin Maxey, University of West Virginia Law Department

Abstract

The capture made by the Russian volunteer vessels in the Red Sea and by the Vladivostock fleet off the coast of Japan have revivified the question of the extent to which a belligerent may lawfully go in interfering with neutral commerce. Perhaps no question of international law has been prolific of more disputes than that of neutral rights. The intensity of feeling and desire for advantage incident to war are apt to cause belligerents to overlook neutral rights, and in their zeal to cripple an immediate enemy, to forget that they in turn will become neutrals and be transfixed by weapons of their own forging. Yet it often happens that in politics as in optics the object nearest to the eye subtends the largest angle. The policy of raiding neutral commerce seems to us to be a short sighted one, unless such commerce is clearly in violation of international law; as it can rarely affect the outcome of the war and usually serves only to aggravate those whose friendship may at any time be valuable. Yet it is not my purpose to discuss here the question of policy, but rather the question of law. And in order to give definiteness to our discussion I will confine myself to the single question: Are food-stuffs contraband? In determining the legal answer to this as to other questions of international law, there are four sources of material from which we may draw, to wit: precedents, treaties, opinions of eminent international law writers, and decisions of courts.

Recommended Citation

Edwin Maxey, Russian Raids on Neutral Commerce, 3 Mich. L. Rev. 1 (1904).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol3/iss1/1