[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.]