Japanese Cruiser Chishima - Litigation Following Sinking

Litigation Following Sinking

Afterwards, in a maritime tribunal held by the British consular court in Yokohama, P&O was cleared. The Japanese Government then brought action against P&O in the British Court for Japan. P&O sought to file a counterclaim which the judge in the Court for Japan, Robert Mowat, rejected as not being within the jurisdiction of the court. P&O appealed to the British Supreme Court for China and Japan in Shanghai (Hannen CJ and Jamieson J) which allowed the counterclaim. The Japanese Government then appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council who allowed the appeal and held P&O was not allowed to counterclaim.

The case was remitted to the Court for Japan for trial. P&O then settled the case by paying the Japanese government 10,000 pounds sterling in compensation, which corresponded roughly to the purchase cost of the ship, but provided for no compensation to the families of the lost officers and crew. The Japanese government had to bear its own legal costs. The British captain was not fined nor imprisoned for his responsibility in the incident. The settlement was regarded as highly unfair by the Japanese public, and was one issue cited in the drive for revision of the unequal treaties between Japan and the western nations to bring an end to extraterritoriality.