On the question of the jurisdiction of Hongkong courts, Lord Atkin said jit must always be remembered that, so far as the courts of this count were concerned, international law had no validity in so far as its principles were accepted and adopted by Britain's own domestic law.
Their Lordships had no hesitation rejecting the doctrine of extraterritoriality which regarded a public ship "as a floating portion of the flag of the state."
Lord Atkin continued, however, that. the doctrine of extraterritoriality expressed it as a fiction, and legal fictions have a tendency to pass beyond appointed bounds and harden into dangerous facts.
Further, it appeared to Their Lordships as plain as possible that the Chinese Government had consented to a British court exercising jurisdiction—Reuter
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.