Asama Maru's captain argued that a belligerent could remove contraband cargo, not passengers, from a neutral ship on the high seas. Greenway replied that German subjects returning to aid the war effort could be taken. Japan invoked Article 47 of the Declaration of London, which concerned enemy armed-forces personnel aboard neutral vessels, although the declaration had never been ratified. The dispute turned on what it meant to be embodied in armed forces: active personnel, reservists, technical specialists, potential conscripts, or loosely defined agents. German prize rules used similarly broad categories, showing how ambiguous language supported sharply different legal claims.
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The disputed law behind removing German sailors
The legal dispute turned on competing definitions, the unratified Declaration of London, and prize rules.