## Facts

- On Oct. 22, 1946, British destroyers HMS *Saumarez* and HMS *Volage* transited the North Corfu Strait, within Albanian territorial waters, and struck naval mines, causing severe damage and loss of life.
- The channel had been swept by Allied forces in 1944 and check-swept in 1945 and was treated as safe for navigation.
- Albania had asserted that foreign warships needed authorization to pass and had previously fired toward British vessels in May 1946, leading the United Kingdom to maintain that passage through the strait was lawful.
- On Nov. 12–13, 1946, the United Kingdom conducted Operation “Retail,” re-entering Albanian territorial waters without consent to sweep for mines and recovered 22 contact mines.
- The dispute reached the ICJ by Special Agreement asking whether Albania was responsible for the explosions and whether the United Kingdom’s October passage and November mine-sweeping violated international law.

## Issues

1. Whether Albania incurred international responsibility for mine explosions in its territorial waters absent direct proof that it laid the mines.
2. Whether a coastal State must warn other States of known dangers (including mines) in waters used for international navigation.
3. Whether the United Kingdom’s Oct. 22, 1946 transit was lawful innocent passage through an international strait or an unlawful violation of Albanian sovereignty.
4. Whether the United Kingdom’s Nov. 12–13, 1946 mine-sweeping in Albanian territorial waters without consent violated Albanian sovereignty.

## Decision

- The Court held Albania responsible under international law for the explosions and resulting damage and loss of life, reasoning that the minefield could not have been laid without Albania’s knowledge and that Albania failed to notify shipping of the danger.
- The Court held the United Kingdom did not violate Albanian sovereignty on Oct. 22, 1946; the destroyers were engaged in innocent passage through an international strait used for maritime communication.
- The Court held the United Kingdom violated Albanian sovereignty by conducting the Nov. 12–13, 1946 mine-sweeping operation in Albanian territorial waters without Albania’s consent.
- The Court treated its declaration that the United Kingdom’s November operation was unlawful as appropriate satisfaction for Albania with respect to that breach.

## Legal Principles

- A State must not knowingly allow its territory to be used for acts contrary to the rights of other States; this includes peacetime duties grounded in elementary considerations of humanity and the interest in freedom of maritime communication.
- A coastal State with knowledge (actual or inferred from circumstances) of a minefield in its territorial waters must warn shipping for the benefit of navigation generally; failure to notify can establish responsibility for resulting harm.
- Where direct evidence is unavailable due to the territorial State’s exclusive control, responsibility may be proven through inferences from circumstantial evidence, provided the facts form a coherent chain leading logically to a single conclusion.
- Warships may enjoy a right of innocent passage through an international strait used for navigation between parts of the high seas in peacetime, without a requirement of prior authorization, so long as the passage is not accompanied by threat or use of force against the coastal State.
- Unconsented law-enforcement or evidence-gathering operations in another State’s territorial sea, including mine-sweeping, are prohibited absent a valid justification under international law and constitute a violation of sovereignty and non-intervention norms.

## Conclusion

The ICJ assigned responsibility to Albania for mine-related harm based on inferred knowledge and a duty to warn, confirmed innocent passage of warships through an international strait in peacetime, and condemned the United Kingdom’s subsequent unilateral mine-sweeping in Albanian waters as an unlawful violation of sovereignty, with a declaration serving as satisfaction.


Corfu Channel (U.K. v. Alb.), 1949 I.C.J. Rep. 4 (Apr. 9)