The Ambatielos Case (Greece v. United Kingdom) was the culmination of a disagreement between the Grecian shipowner Nicolas Eustache Ambatielos and the British government, from whom he had commissioned nine ships at an agreed price and delivery date. When the British government missed every deadline, the resulting financial losses caused Ambatielos to fail to meet payments, eventually resulting in the reseizure of the already completed ships, ruining Ambatielos, who failed to resolve the matter in UK courts.
On 9 April 1952, Greece took the UK to the International Court of Justice, claiming that the British Board of Trade disregarded British legal protocol by failing to fully disclose to the court the delivery dates promised by the British Government, and the British Court of Appeal disregarded British legal protocol regarding 'fresh evidence' by denying appeal, thus denying Ambatielos adequate legal protection, contrary to international law and the Greco-British Treaty of Commerce and Navigation (1886); and, by declining to enter into an arbitration process with Greece, the UK government was in breach of said treaty and its UN agreements to 'peacefully resolve' international disputes.
On 1 July 1952 the ICJ ruled that it had no jurisdiction in the issue of Mr Ambatielos' trial, but had jurisdiction to decide whether or not the UK is obliged to enter into an arbitration process under the Greco-British Treaty of Commerce and Navigation.
On 19 May 1953 it ruled that the UK was obliged to enter into an arbitration process with Greece (which it did, and which was arbitrated in the UK's favour)
Famous quotes containing the words case and/or united:
“Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me. There an upright person could reason with him, and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 23:3-7.
Job, of God.
“And hereby hangs a moral highly applicable to our own trustee-ridden universities, if to nothing else. If we really wanted liberty of speech and thought, we could probably get it—Spain fifty years ago certainly had a longer tradition of despotism than has the United States—but do we want it? In these years we will see.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)