Opinion ID: 399446
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: convention on the high seas

Text: 9 Turning first to the alleged treaty violation, we agree with the district court that the consent of the British government vitiated any violation of the Convention. Article 6 of the Convention on the High Seas provides inter alia that a vessel on the high seas is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the nation under whose flag she sails. 3 The unauthorized interference with a vessel by a foreign state is prohibited by Article 6 unless it comes within a recognized exception. Defendants argue that the boarding of the Persistence violated Article 6. 10 As a preliminary matter, we face the question whether Article 6 is self-executing: that is, whether it has become part of our domestic law enforceable by private individuals without separate legislation. See Whitney v. Robertson, 124 U.S. 190, 194, 8 S.Ct. 456, 458, 31 L.Ed. 386 (1888). If so, its violation would prevent our courts from exercising jurisdiction over the vessel and would provide a basis for suppression of evidence discovered during an unlawful seizure. See Cook v. United States, 288 U.S. 102, 53 S.Ct. 305, 77 L.Ed. 641 (1933); Riesenfeld, The Doctrine of Self-Executing Treaties and U. S. v. Postal: Win at Any Price? 74 Am.J.Int'l L. 892, 894 (1980). 4 If Article 6 is not self-executing, on the other hand, evidence seized in violation of it would not have to be suppressed, because no legislation has been passed to make it part of the Law of the Land within the meaning of the Constitution. U.S.Const.Art. VI, cl. 2. 11 Whether Article 6 is self-executing is a difficult issue. The Fifth Circuit, in what is apparently the only case to address the issue directly, has held that it is not self-executing. See United States v. Postal, 589 F.2d 862 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 832, 100 S.Ct. 61, 62 L.Ed.2d 40 (1979). Several commentators have expressed the opposite view. See Riesenfeld, supra; Note, Smoke on the Water: Coast Guard Authority to Seize Foreign Vessels Beyond the Contiguous Zone, 13 N.Y.U.J. Int'l L. & Pol. 249, 302-16 (1980) (hereinafter cited as Coast Guard Authority); Comment, Treaties-Article 6 of the Convention on the High Seas is Not Self-Executing, 55 Notre Dame Law. 292 (1979); Comment, United States v. Postal, Lost on the High Seas, 31 Mercer L.Rev. 1081 (1980). We do not reach this issue, however, because even assuming arguendo that Article 6 is self-executing, it was not violated in this case because the British government consented to the boarding. 5 12 Great Britain's consent waived its rights under Article 6. Given this waiver, the individuals on board the vessel cannot successfully argue that the treaty was violated. While we are not aware of any other court decision clearly disposing of this issue in a holding, other courts have implicitly recognized the correctness of this position, and commentators have explicitly endorsed it. See United States v. Dominguez, 604 F.2d 304, 308 (4th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1014, 100 S.Ct. 664, 62 L.Ed.2d 644 (1980); United States v. Williams, 617 F.2d 1063, 1075, 1090 (5th Cir. 1980) (en banc); id., at 1092 (Roney, J., specially concurring); Riesenfeld, supra, at 903 n.56; Coast Guard Authority, supra, at 328 (As long as the flag state consents expressly to Coast Guard searches of its vessels, ... (subsequent) seizures do not violate article 6, because the rule of noninterference is not breached when the foreign flag state vessel receives permission from the state whose ship it searches.); see also United States v. Conroy, 589 F.2d 1258, 1268 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 831, 100 S.Ct. 60, 62 L.Ed.2d 40 (1979); United States v. Rubies, 612 F.2d 397, 403 (9th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 940, 100 S.Ct. 2162, 64 L.Ed.2d 1174 (1980). The practice of obtaining prior consent of the foreign flag state is apparently a fairly common one, see United States v. Streifel, 665 F.2d 414, at 417 (2d Cir. 1981); United States v. May May, 470 F.Supp. 384, 388 (S.D.Tex.1979); Riesenfeld, supra, at 903 n.56; Coast Guard Authority, supra, at 330, and we see nothing to suggest that it is improper. The policy behind Article 6 is that of ensuring freedom of access to the high seas by preventing arbitrary interference with vessels of one state by those of another. See M. McDougal and W. Burke, The Public Order of the Oceans, 869-75 (1962). Permitting the flag state to authorize boarding by a foreign vessel in no way interferes with this policy; indeed, it can only further the recognition in Article 6 of the flag state's ability to exercise authority over its vessels. 6