Corfu Channel
Corfu Channel
Corfu Channel
This dispute gave rise to three Judgments by the Court. It arose out of the
explosions of mines by which some British warships suffered damage while passing
through the Corfu Channel in 1946, in a part of the Albanian waters which had been
previously swept. The ships were severely damaged and members of the crew were
killed. The United Kingdom seized the Court of the dispute by an Application filed on
22 May 1947 and accused Albania of having laid or allowed a third State to lay the
mines after mine-clearing operations had been carried out by the Allied naval
authorities. The case had previously been brought before the United Nations and, in
consequence of a recommendation by the Security Council, had been referred to the
Court. In a first Judgment (25 March 1948), the Court dealt with the question of its
jurisdiction and the admissibility of the Application, which Albania had raised. The
Court found, inter alia, that a communication dated 2 July 1947, addressed to it by
the Government of Albania, constituted a voluntary acceptance of its jurisdiction. It
called to mind on that occasion that the consent of the parties to the exercise of its
jurisdiction was not subject to any particular conditions of form and stated that, at
that juncture, it could not hold to be irregular a proceeding not precluded by any
provision in those texts. A second Judgment (9 April 1949) related to the merits of
the dispute. The Court found that Albania was responsible under international law for
the explosions that had taken place in Albanian waters and for the damage and loss
of life which had ensued. It did not accept the view that Albania had itself laid the
mines or the purported connivance of Albania with a mine-laying operation carried
out by the Yugoslav Navy at the request of Albania. On the other hand, it held that
the mines could not have been laid without the knowledge of the Albanian
Government. On that occasion, it indicated in particular that the exclusive control
exercised by a State within its frontiers might make it impossible to furnish direct
proof of facts incurring its international responsibility. The State which is the victim
must, in that case, be allowed a more liberal recourse to inferences of fact and
circumstantial evidence; such indirect evidence must be regarded as of especial
weight when based on a series of facts, linked together and leading logically to a
single conclusion. Albania, for its part, had submitted a counter-claim against the
United Kingdom. It accused the latter of having violated Albanian sovereignty by
sending warships into Albanian territorial waters and of carrying out minesweeping
operations in Albanian waters after the explosions. The Court did not accept the first
of these complaints but found that the United Kingdom had exercised the right of
innocent passage through international straits. On the other hand, it found that the
minesweeping had violated Albanian sovereignty, because it had been carried out
against the will of the Albanian Government. In particular, it did not accept the notion
of "self-help" asserted by the United Kingdom to justify its intervention. In a third
Judgment (15 December 1949), the Court assessed the amount of reparation owed
to the United Kingdom and ordered Albania to pay £844,000 (see Italy v. France,
United Kingdom and United States).
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