The Paquete Habana, 175 U.S. 677 (1900) (U.S. Supreme Court)
The Paquete Habana is a cornerstone of U.S. foreign relations and international law jurisprudence.
Whether, in the absence of a controlling statute, executive order, or prior judicial decision to the contrary, U.S. courts must apply customary international law recognizing an exemption of small coastal fishing vessels from capture as prize of war.
Customary international law is part of the law of the United States and must be ascertained and applied by the courts whenever relevant questions are properly presented, except where a controlling act of Congress, executive directive, or binding judicial decision provides otherwise. Under settled customary international law, peaceful small coastal fishing vessels, with their cargoes and crews, are exempt from capture as prize of war, unless special circumstances (such as military use, carriage of contraband or dispatches, resistance, or deviation from their peaceful character) justify seizure.
Yes. The Supreme Court reversed the condemnation decrees, holding that customary international law exempts small coastal fishing vessels from capture as prize of war and, because no controlling congressional or executive directive authorized the seizures, that rule governed. The Court ordered restitution of the proceeds of the sales to the owners, subject to appropriate deductions.
Paquete Habana is foundational for at least three reasons. First, it announces the modern U.S. incorporation rule: customary international law is part of federal law unless displaced by a controlling act of the political branches. Second, it exemplifies the methodology courts use to identify CIL—examining state practice, opinio juris, admiralty precedents, diplomatic practice, and scholarly writings. Third, it articulates a canonical humanitarian limitation in the law of naval warfare that continues to inform maritime conflict norms. For law students, the case also frames enduring separation-of-powers questions about the relative authority of Congress, the Executive, and the judiciary in the foreign affairs domain, and it foreshadows later federal common law and international law decisions (e.g., Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain) addressing the status and sources of international norms in U.S. courts.