Colonial Cases
United States v. Ross [1891]
[murder - jurisdiction]
United States v. Ross
United States Consular Court, Japan
1891
Source: Daily Alta California, 26 May 1891
John M. Ross, serving life imprisonment for murder, committed on board a United States vessel in Japanese waters, applied for his release. He was a British subject when he shipped, and asserted that the Consular Court of Japan had no right to try him. The Supreme Court holds that any seaman sailing on a vessel flying the American flag is under the jurisdiction of the United States. The plea was dismissed.
[See also San Francisco Call, 3 April 1900.]