Wildenhus' Case

Wildenhus, a Belgian crewmember, killed a fellow Belgian crewmember aboard a Belgian vessel docked in Jersey City. Local police arrested him and detained other Belgian crew as witnesses. The Belgian consul sought habeas corpus under a U.S.-Belgium consular treaty giving home-state consuls exclusive jurisdiction over internal shipboard matters, except where a matter disturbs the peace and tranquility of the local territory. The circuit court refused the writ, and the consul appealed.

Whether, under the treaty reserving internal shipboard matters to the home state, disturbances that disturb only the peace of a foreign merchant vessel remain exclusively for the home state, while disturbances affecting the local territory's peace may be handled by local authorities.