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Textbook on International Law
This page intentionally left blank
 Textbook on

International Law
Seventh Edition

Martin Dixon, MA, PhD (Oxon, Cantab)

Reader in Law, University of Cambridge
Fellow, Queens’ College, Cambridge
Visiting Professor of Law, City University, London

3
 3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Martin Dixon 2013
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Fourth edition 2000
Fifth edition 2005
Sixth edition 2007
Impression: 1
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a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
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above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
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Printed in Great Britain by
Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
 PREFACE

This latest edition of the Textbook has been long in the making and much has been
re-written in order to bring the text up to date for 2013. Every chapter has been
updated and the impact of significant cases before the International Court of Justice
and other international tribunals has been woven into the text. While the funda-
mental nature of the international legal system has not changed, there is no doubt
that international law has had to respond to new and deeper challenges. Old con-
ceptions about the nature of statehood and sovereignty have had to be re-thought
in the light of a revitalised international judicial system and a widespread percep-
tion that a shrinking and complex world needs, rather than just chooses, an effective
international legal order.
While the text has changed, the aim remains the same: to present an accurate and
reasonably detailed exposition of international law for the interested student. The
deeper theoretical debates that abound in international law are left for further read-
ing and a signpost is provided at the end of each Chapter. The complexity of the
subject is not minimised, but the aim is to enlighten and explain. In this task, I have
benefitted greatly from the advice, guidance and research of Robert McCorquodale
and Sarah Williams and the publication of the 5th edition of Cases & Materials on
International Law.
As ever, thanks are due to many, not least the staff of OUP whose patience I
stretched and stretched. I hope it was worth the wait. Finally, I cannot sign off
without marking the passing of two of the greatest scholars of international law
of the modern era. I was lucky enough to be taught by both Derek Bowett and Ian
Brownlie. Much that is in this Textbook, and in the courses studied by students
around the world, has been influenced by the work of these Titans of international
legal scholarship and practice. Much of the international legal order that shapes the
modern world and protects the people in it is of their making.

Martin Dixon
Queens’ College
Ash Wednesday 2013
 NEW TO THIS EDITION

• Recent developments in the law relating to the use of force, including Security
Council responses to terrorism and civil war.
• Consideration of the ICJ’s analysis of the concept of independence and sovereignty
(Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in
respect of Kosovo (Request for Advisory Opinion).
• Recent developments in territorial sovereignty and jurisdictional sovereignty.
• The developing law of immunity and its relationship to human rights –
Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v Italy: Greece intervening) and
Questions relating to the Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite (Belgium v Senegal).
• The first cases tried by the International Criminal Court and the developing law of
individual personal responsibility for violations of human rights.
 OUTLINE CONTENTS

1 The nature of international law and the international system 1

2 The sources of international law 24

3 The law of treaties 55

4 International law and national law 90

5 Personality, statehood and recognition 115

6 Jurisdiction and sovereignty 148

7 Immunities from national jurisdiction 182

8 The law of the sea 217

9 State responsibility 252

10 The peaceful settlement of disputes 286

11 The use of force 321

12 Human rights 354

 DETAILED CONTENTS

Preface v
New to this edition vi
List of abbreviations xii
Table of cases xiv
Table of treaties xxiv
Table of other documents xxix
Table of statutes xxxi

1 The nature of international law and the international system 1

1.1 The role of international law 3 1.5 The weakness of international

1.2 The existence of international rules as law 14
a system of law 4 1.6 The juridical basis of
1.3 The enforcement of international international law 16
law 6 1.7 The future of international law 21
1.4 The effectiveness of international Further reading 22
law 11 Summary 23

2 The sources of international law 24

2.1 Article 38 of the Statute of the 2.6 Writings of publicists 49

International Court of Justice 24 2.7 Resolutions and decisions of
2.2 International treaties international organisations 49
(‘conventions’) 28 2.8 Soft law 52
2.3 Custom 32 Further reading 53
2.4 General principles of law 42 Summary 54
2.5 Judicial decisions 45

3 The law of treaties 55

3.1 What is a treaty? 56 3.6 Vienna Convention on the Law

3.2 Acts lacking an intention to create of Treaties between International
legal relations 57 Organisations or between
States and International
3.3 Other ‘non-treaty’ circumstances Organisations 1986 86
giving rise to legally binding
obligations 58 Further reading 87
3.4 The Vienna Convention on the Summary 88
Law of Treaties 1969 62
3.5 Vienna Convention on the
Succession of States in Respect
of Treaties 1978 85
 Detailed contents ix

4 International law and national law 90

4.1 Theories 91 4.5 National courts applying

4.2 National law before international international law 111
courts and tribunals 94 4.6 Executive certificates and
4.3 Theories about international law in ministerial discretion 112
the national legal system: Further reading 113
incorporation, transformation Summary 114
and implementation 98
4.4 International law in the national
law of the United Kingdom 100

5 Personality, statehood and recognition 115

Part One: Personality and statehood Part Two: Recognition 131

in international law 115 5.3 Recognition in international law 132
5.1 The concept of personality in 5.4 Recognition of states and
international law 115 governments in national law 136
5.2 The subjects of international Further reading 146
law 117
Summary 147

6 Jurisdiction and sovereignty 148

6.1 General principles of 6.5 Areas outside the exclusive

jurisdiction 148 jurisdiction of any state 175
6.2 Civil and criminal jurisdiction 150 6.6 Jurisdiction over airspace
6.3 The acquisition of sovereignty and aircraft 178
over territory 161 Further reading 180
6.4 Rights over foreign territory 174 Summary 181

7 Immunities from national jurisdiction 182

Part One: State immunity 183 7.6 The European Convention on

7.1 General conception of immunity State Immunity 1972 207
and rationale in international 7.7 State immunity in the UK and
law 183 human rights 207
7.2 State immunity in international Part Two: Diplomatic and
law 187 consular immunities 208
7.3 The UN Convention on 7.8 International law 209
Jurisdictional Immunities of 7.9 The United Kingdom 213
States and their Property 2004
(the ILC Draft Articles) 194 7.10 A note on the immunities
of international organisations 214
7.4 State immunity in the
United Kingdom 196 Further reading 215
7.5 Heads of state 206 Summary 216
x Detailed contents

8 The law of the sea 217

8.1 Sources of the law of the sea 217 8.7 Miscellaneous matters 242
8.2 The territorial sea and 8.8 Conclusion 246
contiguous zone 220 Further reading 247
8.3 The Exclusive Economic Zone 224 Summary 248
8.4 The continental shelf 228 Appendix: Guide to the 1982
8.5 The deep sea bed 236 Convention on the Law of
8.6 The high seas 241 the Sea and 1994 Agreement
on the Deep Sea Bed 249

9 State responsibility 252

9.1 General issues of state 9.5 Protection for private investors 283
responsibility 254 9.6 Other forms of responsibility
9.2 The treatment of foreign in international law 284
nationals 266 Further reading 284
9.3 Expropriation of foreign-owned Summary 285
property 275
9.4 The internationalisation
of contracts 281

10 The peaceful settlement of disputes 286

10.1 Negotiation 287 10.7 Arbitration 292

10.2 Mediation and good offices 288 10.8 The International Court
10.3 Inquiry 288 of Justice 294
10.4 Settlement by the 10.9 Advisory Opinions 316
United Nations 289 Further reading 319
10.5 Conciliation 291 Summary 320
10.6 Settlement by regional
machinery 292

11 The use of force 321

Part One: The unilateral use 11.3 The United Nations 342
of force 322 11.4 Regional organisations 348
11.1 The law before 1945 322 11.5 Peacekeeping 350
11.2 The law after the UN Charter 324 Further reading 352
Part Two: The collective Summary 353
use of force 341

12 Human rights 354

12.1 The role and nature of human 12.2 The development of the law
rights law 354 of human rights 357
 Detailed contents xi

12.3 The protection of human rights 12.5 Other regional machinery 369
under the United Nations 359 12.6 Success and failure 370
12.4 The European Convention on Further reading 371
Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms 1950 365 Summary 373

Glossary 375
Index 377
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AHG Assembly of Heads of State and Government, OAU

AJIL American Journal of International Law
BYIL British Yearbook of International Law
Carricom Caribbean Common Market
CLCS Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
CMLR Common Market Law Reports
CRAMRA Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource
Activities
CSC Continental Shelf Convention 1958
EC European Community
ECOSOC Economic and Social Council (UN)
EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone
EFTA European Free Trade Association
EFZ Exclusive Fisheries Zone
EHRR European Human Rights Reports
EJIL European Journal of International Law
EU European Union
GA Res. General Assembly Resolution
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
HSC High Seas Convention 1958
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organisation
ICC International Criminal Court
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICJ International Court of Justice
ICJ Rep Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders of the
International Court of Justice
ICLQ International Comparative Law Quarterly
ILC International Law Commission
ILM International Legal Materials
ILO International Labour Organisation
ILQ International Law Quarterly
ILR International Law Reports
IMF International Monetary Fund
IRC Inland Revenue Commissioners
ITLOS International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
LNOJ League of Nations Official Journal
LOS 1982 Law of the Sea Convention 1982
OAS Organisation of American States
OAU Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union
OSCE Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
PCIJ Permanent Court of International Justice
PLO Palestine Liberation Organisation
RIAA Reports of International Arbitral Awards
SC Res. Security Council Resolution
SWAPO South West Africa People’s Organisation
TRNC Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
TSC Territorial Sea Convention 1958
UN United Nations
 List of abbreviations xiii

UNDOF United Nations Disengagement Observations Force

UNEF United Nations Emergency Force
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
UNFICYP United Nations Force in Cyprus
UNIFIL United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency
VC Vienna Convention
WHO World Health Organization
 TABLE OF CASES

A v Secretary of State for the Home A-G for Canada v A-G for Ontario [1937] AC
Department [2006] 2 AC 221 … 48, 100, 326 … 101
111, 355 A-G of Israel v Eichmann (1961) 36 ILR 5 …
Aaland Islands Case [1920] LNOJ Special 154, 156, 160, 260, 341
Supp. No. 3 … 78 A-G v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No. 2)
AAPL v Sri Lanka … 256, 261, 263, 293 [1990] 1 AC 109 … 106
Adams v Adams [1970] 3 All ER 572 … 140, Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea
141 v Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Admissions Case 1948 ICJ Rep 57 … 73 Merits, Judgment, (ICJ 2010) … 9
Advisory Opinion on the Accordance Ahmadou Sadio Diallo Republic of Guinea v
with international law of the unilateral Democratic Republic of the Congo
declaration of independence in respect of (ICJ 2012) … 9
Kosovo (2008) … 10, 291, 298, 316–19, Ahmed v Government of the Kingdom of
340 Saudi Arabia [1996] 2 All ER 248 … 197
Advisory Opinion on the Accordance AIG Capital Partners Inc v Kazakhstan …
with international law of the unilateral 201
declaration of independence in respect Air Services Agreement Case (France v
of Kosovo (2010) … 32, 51, 62, 122, 124, United States) 18 RIAA 416 (1978) … 85
127, 171, 172, 294
Al Skeini and others v Secretary of State for
Advisory Opinion on the applicability of Art Defence (2009) … 153
VI, section 22 of the Convention on the
Alabama Claims Arbitration (1872) Moore 1
Privileges and Immunities of the United
Int. Arb. 495 … 94
Nations (1989) ICJ Rep 177 (Immunities
Case) … 127, 317, 318 Al-Adsani v Government of Kuwait 107 ILR
536 … 193, 194, 197, 200, 201, 207
Advisory Opinion on the Constitution of
the Maritime Safety Committee of IMCO Al-Adsani v UK (2002) 34 EHRR 273 … 194,
Case 1960 ICJ Rep 150 … 73 208
Advisory Opinion on the Difference Alcom v Republic of Colombia [1984] 2
Relating to Immunity from Legal WLR 750 … 205
Process of a Special Rapporteur of the Ambatielos Case (Jurisdiction) 1952 ICJ Rep
Commission of Human Rights, 20 April 28 … 74, 312
1999 … 214 Ambatielos Arbitration (Greece v UK) (1956)
Advisory Opinion on the Interpretation of 12 RIAA 83 … 272
the Treaty of Lausanne Case (1925) PCIJ Amco v Indonesia (1985) 24 ILM 1022 …
Ser. B No. 12 … 293 279
Advisory Opinion on the Jurisdiction of the Amoco Finance v Iran 15 Iran–US CTR 189
European Commission of the Danube, (1987) … 263, 275, 278, 279, 280
PCIJ Ser. B No. 14 … 127 Anglo-French Continental Shelf Case (1979)
Advisory Opinion on the Legal 18 ILM 397; 54 ILR 6 … 41, 69, 76, 231,
Consequences of the Construction of a 244
Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. Case (Jurisdiction)
July 2004 ICJ Rep … 10, 29, 290 1952 ICJ Rep 93 … 58, 61
Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries Case 1951 ICJ
Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (WHO Rep 116 … 32–5, 47, 90, 96, 220, 222,
Case) 1996 ICJ Rep 66 … 37, 45, 116, 297, 223, 244, 245
328
Animoil Case (1982) 21 ILM 976 … 277,
Advisory Opinion on Nuclear Weapons 278, 282
(WHO Case) … 127
Application of the Interim Accord of 13
Advisory Opinion on Reservations to September 1995 (The Former Yugoslav
Certain Commonwealth of Independent Republic of Macedonia v Greece) (2011)
States Agreements 127 ILR 1 … 72 … 10, 63, 74, 75, 76, 82, 84, 85, 291, 298,
Aerial Incident Case (Israel v Bulgaria) 316
(Preliminary Objections) 1959 ICJ Rep Application for Revision of the Judgment of
127 … 311 11 September 1992 … 295
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This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
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S.O.S. APHRODITE!
 By STANLEY MULLEN

No wonder that signal stabbed out into the

icy void. For it was a ship of hate and evil,
and ISP patrolman Steve Coran trusted only
one person—after strapping her in her bunk!

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

Planet Stories Summer 1949.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
On the high metallic wall across the street was a big sign: VENUS
TRANSPORT and a smaller sign which read CONTAMINATION AREA
—KEEP OUT! Steve Coran turned away from the window and faced
the ISP official across the desk.
"From the time you leave this office, you'll be in deadly danger," the
official said. "We aren't dealing with sporadic cases of space piracy.
This is a well-organized group of saboteurs, pirates and assassins
backed by a ring of powerful and unscrupulous men, some of them
in high places. They have more on their minds than mere looting.
They have certain political objectives—and will stop at nothing to
cause unrest, even war or revolution, to gain their ends. Fishers in
troubled waters...."
Coran laughed harshly. "Doesn't sound like a rest cure. Why'd you
pick me for the job?"
The official opened a file drawer and riffled the cards. "You were
recommended by the Ministry of Transport. I confess that I was
dubious, because of your record. However, you were transferred
from the Mars-Jupiter sector for the one reason that you're not
known here. Any of our regular security agents or the ISP men
would be recognized at once. Our original idea was to place you
aboard a rocket transport as a crewman to spy out the weak links in
our defensive measures. But a matter of graver importance has
come up. The assignments will overlap, but we can no longer give
you official backing."
"You'd better bring me up to date," Coran said bluntly.
"The pattern is usually the same. Barratry. Three of the Venus
transports have been deliberately wrecked and looted. Of plutonium,
for the most part. Members of this criminal group have infiltrated the
crew. Even trusted officers have been forced, by blackmail or other
methods, to aid the plotters. We can trust no one, not even the
captain."
"I see. What is this other matter you spoke about?"
"Two days ago we arrested a man. The charge was barratry. We had
no name, only a heliophoto from Venus. In his possession we found
documents relating to political matters of vital importance. Release
of the information contained in his portfolio would be disastrous at
this time. It could cause chaos, perhaps even war."
Coran grunted. "Such documents have no right to exist."
"I agree. Unfortunately, this one does exist. And it's no longer in our
custody. A woman, obviously an accomplice, got a blaster-gun to
him. Two ISP men were killed, and the prisoner escaped. The
documents went with him. I don't have to tell you that both of these
fugitives must be apprehended or killed. And those papers must be
brought back or destroyed. That's your job."
"I don't like it."
"Tact isn't your long suit, is it, Lieutenant? You weren't asked if you
liked it. With two black marks against your record, you can't afford
an opinion. One more and you're through as an officer in the space
patrol—"
"I don't like working out of uniform."
"—and I wouldn't count too much on a friendship with Paul Jomian,
if I were you, Coran. He's through here ... even if he was kicked
upstairs into the transport ministry. We no longer approve his
methods. His rough-shod, undisciplined methods may get by in a
frontier civilization like that of the outer planets, but nowadays we
require efficiency and complete co-operation in the ISP. The time is
past when an ISP officer can forget to change his uniform and go
without shaving for days at a time."
Coran's eyes glittered. "There was more to Paul Jomian than gold
braid and pretty uniforms. He was a man. And he got things done so
a lot of you pretty-boys could sit on your fat chairs and keep your
hair unmussed. For your information, those black marks on my
record are for tearing apart superior officers who made cracks about
Paul Jomian. Do you want me to turn in my badge?"
The official smiled poisonously. "That would be the easy way out for
you, Coran. What's the matter—the job too tough for you?"
"I can't stand the smell of perfume around here. And the jobs don't
come too tough. Relax, big shot. I'll run your stinking little errand for
you. But it's the last one. When I hand your two-vikdal bad man
over to you, I'm through. Make out my resignation that way, and I'll
sign it before I leave."

The official laughed and stood up. "Resignation accepted—upon

completion of assignment. You're a hard case, Coran. Up to a point,
you're even right. But you don't belong any more, not in this part of
the universe. It took pioneers like you and Jomian to bang the holes
in our fishbowl world, but we need men with dull routine minds to
bring order into it. Unofficially, I'm sorry to see you go. Nowadays a
man conforms or he gets out."
"Skip the bouquets and the funeral oration. What's the layout on the
job you want done?"
The official threw a file card across the desk. "There's the man you
want. The picture won't help you much, since he'll probably be
wearing a plastic face-mask."
Coran glanced at it and shrugged. "Not much to go on. Any other
leads?"
"Yes." The official glanced at his wrist-chron. "We know that he will
be on the Venus transport X-1143—the Aphrodite—which leaves in
three hours. Probably the woman, too. Whatever happens, they
must not reach Venus alive."
Coran caught an implication in the words. "What do you mean
'Whatever happens?'"
"The Aphrodite is an emigrant ship. It's a government secret that
she's carrying plutonium for the power plants on Venus, but we're
afraid the information may have leaked out. You may as well know
that we're on the spot. It's too late to cancel the shipment without
serious economic repercussions. And we haven't found any way to
protect the passenger-carrying ships. Even if we armed them, which
is against Interplanetary Law, they're too slow to run and too
unwieldy to maneuver. Too much mass."
"What about convoy?"
"We tried that last time. The ship was disabled and driven off-orbit.
Then a group of fast cruisers of unusual design showed up. The
space patrol drove them off and gave chase. It was a trick, of
course, to decoy our ships into space, then the main body of pirates
moved in and cleaned out the ship."
Coran laughed. "When you're catching rabbits you have to be
smarter than the rabbits."
The official flushed. "We're handicapped by lack of ships and lack of
competent personnel. This is your chance to be smarter than the
rabbits. The man you want is obviously a member of the same
group. If there is trouble, he will try to contact his friends. It's up to
you to find him first, and if you fail that, to make sure that he does
not escape or turn over the documents to anyone else. We'll have an
ISP squadron following six hours behind the Aphrodite. If you need
help, get a signal to them—by helioflash, if you can. I suggest you
find the man first, and through him, locate the woman. From there
on, you know what to do...."
"It's a dirty job. Even with frosting, it's simple butchery—no trial, no
evidence. Now I know why the Martians consider an ISP man just a
hired thug."
"That's all he is. You have your orders and, whatever your private
opinions may be, I'm sure you'll agree that lives are unimportant
when we're playing for such stakes."
"Lives never are when politicians start dealing from the bottom of
the deck," Coran snarled bitterly.
The official shrugged. "I wouldn't know about that. I'm just a yes-
man. You can discuss it with Paul Jomian—your politician friend—
when you see him. He'll be on the Aphrodite."
"Have you figured out how I'm to get on the Aphrodite? If she's an
emigrant ship, they'll take only married couples. The altruistic
Company wants settlers to colonize Venus and build up their plague-
spot plantations for them."
"That's your problem. Marry someone if you have to, or hire a fake
wife. It's been done. Anything, just so you don't give away your
official position. Now get going. You've less than three hours till
take-off time."
Coran bent over the desk and signed his resignation with an
elaborate flourish, put an inked thumbprint beside the name, then
stalked to the door clothespinning his nose between thumb and
forefinger. "That's time enough to blow this stink off me," he said
carelessly, wiping the inky thumb on his uniform jacket.
The official laughed. "You're right. It does stink."

Steve Coran was conscious of the girl merely as an obstacle between

him and the ticket window. She was young, expensively dressed and
too well-groomed, with blue-white hair, a haughty manner, and an
icy stare in her violet eyes.
"I was here first," she said coldly.
Coran bowed mockingly. "I don't like you either. Besides, I never hit
a lady in public. I hope this won't lead to one of those shipboard
romances."
The beehive activity of the ticket office slackened as take-off time
drew near. Coran studied her back as she stood ahead of him in the
line and repressed a desire to pinch her and find out if she were
real. The weasel-faced clerk was tired and his tone of long-suffering
patience had worn to a thread of annoyance.
"I've told you before, miss. I can't sell single tickets—the company
rules do not permit any but married couples aboard an emigrant
transport. We feel that unattached women are trouble makers in a
frontier society."
The girl made an arrogant gesture. "It's important. I must get to
Venus. I don't care what it costs."
"Don't tell me. See the manager. I don't make the rules. Third office
on the left. But you'd better hurry. I've only one double passage
left."
Coran tapped the girl on her shoulder. She glared at him. "Take a tip
from me, babe. See the boss. If he's a man, you'll get the tickets."
As she left the line, he pushed to the window. "I'll take those two
tickets, bud."
"Do you have your marriage certificate?"
Coran reached through the window, snagged a coat lapel and had
the man dragged half through the window in a flash. "Now I'll talk,
punk, and you listen. Because I don't have a ring in my nose, don't
get the idea I'm not married. Do I get those tickets, or do you give
up mirrors for the next six weeks?"
The clerk looked at the gnarled fist under his nose and gave a wild
nod of his head. "You get them."
The steel fingers relaxed and the clerk slid back inside his cage. "I'll
report this," he stormed, shaking himself like a wet animal. "You'd
better have your papers when you try to get past the purser." He
handed out the tickets.
The girl followed Coran from the office. "I'll give you a thousand
vikdals for those tickets."
Coran grinned savagely. "Not even if you said please."
"Please, and two thousand."
"Stop it—you're getting near my price. Besides, they wouldn't do you
any good. You need a husband to go with 'em. Take the express
rocket next month. It's a shorter orbit and you'll only lose two
weeks."
"You take it then. My business won't wait. Three thousand."
Coran whistled. "What's your problem?"
"None of your business."
"Have it your own way. My business won't wait either. Now, if you
don't mind, I'm in a hurry. I've less than two hours to find a honky-
tonk and get myself a bride. I don't suppose you'd know where the
nearest dive is. No, you wouldn't."
He turned away toward the elevators, but the girl clutched his arm
desperately. "Six thousand.... It's all I have."
Coran stared at her. "I'm sorry for you, but you'd have to kill me to
get these away. And I'm hard to kill. I'll make a deal though. I'll sell
you half of my double for three thousand. You'd have to marry me,
though."
"Marry you!" There was a word of loathing in her tone.
"It's been done. I'm on my way out now to look up a floozy. I'll even
marry her, if she's dope enough to want it that way. I don't like the
idea any better than you do, but I'd hock grandma's false teeth to
get to Venus. Forget I mentioned it. If I'm to be stuck with a dame
for four months, it might as well be a flamethrower as an icicle."
He buzzed for the elevator before she called after him. "I—I've
changed my mind." She was pale, with a look of suppressed fury
about her. "I guess I'd do even that."
Coran laughed wickedly. "Don't flatter yourself. You're just a ticket to
Venus to me. Meet me at the marriage bureau in half an hour. We
haven't much time, and you'll have to be psychographed. We really
should know each other. I'm Steve Coran."
"I'm Gerda Mors. In half an hour."

The purser stopped at a door marked No. 200. He was a young,

inadequate-looking man.
"You won't have to carry me over the threshold," Gerda said crisply.
She went inside and shut the door. In shocked silence, he re-
checked the sheaf of papers in his hand.
"She's shy around strangers," Coran explained. "When do we take-
off?"
"In five minutes. We're making these emigrant runs under very
crowded conditions. All passengers are expected to remain in their
own staterooms most of the time. A certain amount of exercise is
permitted, of course, once free flight is attained and the A-orbit
corrections made. Until then, we recommend that everyone remain
out of the crew's way. The safest place during acceleration is in
bed."
Coran winked ponderously. "I'll make out all right. One thing,
though. I believe I have a friend on board. Am I permitted to
examine the passenger lists?"
"Of course, they're public property. See the captain. His office is up
near the bow, just aft of the control rooms. But wait till we're out in
space."
Coran knocked and entered the stateroom. Gerda was brushing her
hair. She glanced up irritably. "This is my room," she told him shortly.
"Find yourself another."
He laughed grimly. "The psychographs warned we were
incompatible, but you'd better get used to me. It's 146 days to
Venus, and we've only this stateroom between us. They practically
lock us in, you know. We're going to be very good friends or most
uncomfortable before we reach Venus."
Angry sparks shot from her violet eyes. "Did you know all this
before?"
Coran nodded.
"You are a swine, aren't you? It won't do you any good. I'll tell the
captain we're not married. I'll say it was all a fake, the certificate
was a forgery, that you're a...."
"Go ahead. I wish for your sake it would help, but they'd only check
and find out it was genuine. Even if it weren't, you'd only be forced
to go through the ceremony again. The rules are very specific to
cover just such situations."
Fear and anger blended unpleasantly in her voice. "I'll think of
something...."
Warning alarms blared through the ship. Ripples of soundless shock
stirred the bulk.
"We're getting under way," Coran warned. "You'd better come to
bed."
"I'd rather die," she said sullenly.
"Suit yourself. But it's pretty unpleasant."

The rocket transport left its runway at an angle of 45 degrees,

slanting up into the Sahara night with a blossom of pink-white flame
flowering round its stern jets. A series of jarring vibrations smoothed
to a muffled burr. The girl was flung heavily to the floor and lay
there beside the porthole of fused quartz, retching feebly as the
acceleration built up. Outside the port, what seemed the flank of a
titanic mountain of moonlit sand fell rapidly astern. It tilted at an
incredible angle.
Coran hunched himself off the bed and crawled to her. Gerda
grimaced weakly and struck at him, then lapsed into
unconsciousness. He picked her up and carried her to the bed,
dumped her like a limp sack and clasped the straps about her. She
did not rouse.
Her purse lay where she had dropped it. Coran went through it
methodically. A small blaster-gun of the type women thugs carry in
their handbags. It appeared to have been used recently. Four
Lumipencils. The usual cosmetics. A pillbox with a poison label. And,
in an ivory frame, a small colorphoto miniature of the man whose
face was on the Security Headquarters dossier card. Coran
neutralized the charge in the blaster and set it on safety, then
carefully replaced everything. He wished he had a pocket
magnascope to study the miniature in detail, but that could wait. He
must check the passenger lists and find out where Paul Jomian's
room was located. Paul should be warned, so that his surprise at
seeing Coran would not give the show away.
The girl stirred and moaned feebly. Coran found the emergency
medical locker and forced an anti-acceleration capsule between her
tight-clenched teeth, following it with a water concentrate capsule.
She would be wildly thirsty when she came out of it, and real water
would have some unpleasant effects during A-shock. He leaned over
and checked the straps. They were tight enough so she would never
get out of that tie without help. Her eyes blinked open and she
stared at him in panic.
"Just relax," he cautioned. "And don't get impatient. I'll be right
back. Have to see a man about a...."
He went outside and made his way with difficulty up the bleak
passage forward. The distorted gravity made walking extremely
difficult. Once outside the main gravity field of Earth, artificial
gravities would be turned on. Until then, only an experienced
spaceman could get around safely. Coran was grateful for the
rigorous training of the ISP.
A staccato bark of unintelligible verbal commands came through the
half-opened doorway of the control room ahead. The captain's office
should be somewhere about here. On Coran's right was a closed
door marked CAPTAIN. Coran knocked twice without receiving any
answer, then tried the door. It slid easily open. He stepped over the
high threshold. Lights were flaring and dying away as if the
generators were running unevenly. He peered about him, and at first
the Spartan-like accommodations seemed unoccupied. He wondered
if he should sit down and wait for the captain. A second look
convinced him he would have a long wait.
Sprawled forward, half across the desk, was the captain's body. The
upper part of his head had been blown away by a blaster-gun,
evidently fired at close quarters.
A cry behind him swung Coran around. In the frame of the opened
doorway stood the purser, mouth open, pointing at the dead man
with a trembling finger. Instinctively, Coran started for the door. The
purser sprang into action, leaped on Coran and caught him in a
surprisingly strong grip for so slight a man. Coran made no attempt
to struggle. In a moment the office was full of people. The burly first
mate pulled the purser away from Coran.
"What is all this, Hamlin?" the mate demanded.
Coran had taken time to study the identification files on all the
Aphrodite's officers at headquarters before coming aboard. He
recognized the three officers instantly as Harriman, first mate—
Hamlin, the purser—and Nalson, the navigator or astronaut—but
was careful not to give himself away.
"I heard a sound in the captain's office, and when I came in to
investigate, I found him," Hamlin explained. "The captain's been
murdered."
Mate Harriman looked Coran up and down. "Where's the gun?" he
asked.
"How should I know? I just came in a minute ago. He was like this
when I got here."
Harriman drove a fist into Coran's mouth. "Come now, you don't
expect us to believe a yarn like that. Where is that gun?"
Coran spat blood from his mangled lips. "I don't know anything
about it. The purser can tell you why I wanted to see the captain."
Hamlin spoke up. "I told him to wait till we were out in space," he
snapped. "He said he wanted to check the passenger list."
"I demand to see the first mate," Coran said.
The words seemed to recall Harriman to his duties. "I am the first
mate," he said. "I haven't time to bother with you now. I'll take care
of you later. Throw him in the cells till we get out in space. I'll have
to take over for the Old Man."

Coran was hustled roughly to the lower part of the ship and flung
into the cramped quarters of the transport's brig. He settled back on
the bunk and tried to straighten things out in his mind.
"At least I got a room to myself," he mused grimly. This was going to
complicate things.
His wrist-chron had stopped, so he had no way of telling time, but
they fed him four times and he slept twice before they came for him.
Two crew men waited in the passage while Hamlin came in and sat
down.
"You're in a bad spot, Coran. It's customary in cases of civilian
infractions of ship's rules to appoint an officer as counsel for their
defense. I'm yours. Sorry you got pushed around, but you were
lucky at that. Harriman's a pretty tough character. You'd have got
worse if Nalson and I hadn't been there. He's been disciplined for
brutality before now. They're giving you a hearing in the wardroom.
I'd suggest you co-operate with me by telling me anything that will
help with your case. I don't mind telling you your story's too weak to
hold up. I'll do all I can for you, but you'll have to help."
"What am I supposed to do?" Coran grunted.
"You might tell me the truth. We know the captain must have been
killed just as the ship took off. Otherwise, someone would have
heard the shot. If you could prove you were somewhere else at the
time—"
"I was with my wife. She'll bear witness for me."
"It won't do, Coran. I should have told you that your wife is ill and
won't be able to testify. I found her myself, strapped to the bunk in
your cabin, Martian plague! I called the doctor who examined her,
then quarantined the cabin. We left concentrated food and water,
warned her not to leave, then locked and sealed the cabin. No one
can see her."
Coran went cold with anger. "Someone must really be trying to foul
me up," he raged. "She couldn't have the plague—she's never been
off the earth."
"Your papers read that you just came from Mars," objected Hamlin.
"I did. We were married just before the ship left. If I were carrying
the plague, I'd have it myself. She couldn't have it—"
Hamlin laughed nervously. "I wish you could convince the doctor of
that. He's been taking blood tests of me ever since we left her. I'm
sorry for you, Coran, but she has it. I saw the grey rash myself. It's
horrible, horrible...."
Coran's mind worked like lightning. She had said she would think of
something. Something to keep the stateroom to herself. There might
even be a more sinister motive than that. After that picture of the
man he wanted in her purse, he could believe anything of her.
Maybe she even knew about him. She was faking, but how? How,
since she had been securely tied when he left her? Had he started
his quest at the wrong end? She must have been the woman
accomplice who had got a gun through the security police guarding
the prisoner.
"What am I charged with?" he asked.
"Deliberate murder and plotting against the welfare of the ship. If
the officers agree on your guilt, you can be put to death
immediately. They put you through an airlock. The regulations have
to be pretty stringent on a space-ship."
Coran stood up. "Let's go up and get it over with," he said. "We'll
see about your regulations."
Manacled between the two brawny crewmen, a sullen Coran rode up
in the elevators. Outside the wardroom, the group stopped while
Hamlin knocked. "I wish you'd let me help you," he said in a final
attempt.
Coran shook his head. "I know what I'm doing."
Hamlin shrugged. "I hope you do."

The assembled officers stared at Coran curiously. His lip was still
bruised and swollen. He stared insolently at the group and tried to
thrust all other considerations out of his mind. The girl and his quest
would have to wait. His immediate hurdle was to get out of this
mess.
Harriman wet his lips and opened the hearing.
"I won't waste words when we all know why we're here. There is no
need for formality in a hearing of this kind. The captain of the
Aphrodite was foully murdered, and this man who calls himself
Stephen Coran was found standing over his body. There was no gun
in the room and none on the prisoner. Coran's papers seem to be in
order. They show him to be a prospector from Mars, en route to
Venus, but may be forgeries. That can be checked. His wife is in
quarantine, and will be unable to testify one way or the other."
Coran broke in. "I demand to hear the formal charge against me."
"As acting captain of the Aphrodite, I officially charge you, Stephen
Coran, with the wilful murder of Captain Joseph Shalm, late master
of this ship. Also, since the murder must have taken place at the
exact moment of take-off, with the deliberate intent to delay and
endanger the safety of the ship and all the lives on board."
"Good. Now I make formal demand that my wife be called as
witness to the fact that I could not have been in the captain's office
at the time of take-off."
"You heard me say that your wife is in quarantine. She will not be
able to testify. If you have anything else to say in your defense,
speak up."
"I make no defense. Since the court is so obviously prejudiced, I will
stand on my civilian rights as a technicality. This court has no
jurisdiction over me. The most you can do is to confine me to the
area of this ship until a charge can be brought against me in the
admiralty court on Venus. Also, under Security Law No. F 1720, since
the one witness I asked to have called in my defense has not been
brought to court, I demand that the whole proceedings be dropped
as illegal, unjustified, and prejudicial to civilian rights. Since I
obviously cannot escape from the ship, you cannot even require the
customary bond for reappearance."
Harriman's mouth dropped open. "Do you expect to get away with
this?"
"More than that." Coran grimaced unpleasantly. "I wish to file
charges with the nearest official of the ministry of transport that I
was mishandled and held under restraint without formal charges
being brought against me. If there is such an official on board, I
demand to see him."
Nalson, the astronaut, hid a smile behind his sleeve, then leaned
forward and whispered earnestly to Harriman. Harriman nodded,
then turned to consult with the ship's doctor.
"Is this your doing, Hamlin?" the acting captain rasped sourly.
The purser shifted uneasily. "No, sir. But, since the prisoner chooses
this defense, I have no choice but to repeat his demands, officially.
There is an official aboard, Paul Jomian of the transport ministry. I
suggest you send for him and turn this hearing over to him. He will
have whatever authority is necessary to deal with it."
In momentary desperation, Harriman glanced round the room at the
circle of faces and saw that Coran had him over a barrel. The hard-
faced navigator, Nalson, spoke up. "Better send for Jomian. In
theory, we have the right of assessing the death penalty, but in
practice, it's not so simple. The admiralty will review the case and, if
your foot slips on some technicality, you might even have to face the
disintegrators yourself."
Harriman gave in and sent for Jomian.

A red bulb flashed and the buzzer sounded, then Paul Jomian
stepped into the wardroom. He was a lean man, greying into his late
fifties, with the bleakness of outer space in his eyes and a face badly
scarred by spaceburns. His eyes stared as they fell upon the
manacled figure of Coran standing in the center of the harsh-lit
stage. Steve Coran stared back at him with insolently expressionless
face.
The difficulty was rapidly explained by Captain Harriman in a
monotonously leveled tone of repressed fury. Jomian studied the
prisoner with politely casual interest while the harangue went on.
When Harriman finished, the transport official considered briefly
before giving his verdict.
"Well, gentlemen, much as I sympathize with your feelings in this
matter, I'm afraid the prisoner is within his rights. Even if the
circumstances are somewhat unusual, we have no choice but to
release him. However, in view of the possible menace involved to the
safety of the ship, I recommend that he be under constant
surveillance by some competent and responsible officer, preferably
the one appointed for his defense, who will see to it that he has no
opportunity to perpetrate further violence. Once Venus is reached
the man can be turned over to the proper authorities."
Coran broke in roughly. "Does all this monkey talk mean I'm free?"
Harriman was maliciously official. "I'm afraid it does. But don't try
anything funny. Hamlin, Nalson, I'm detailing you two to watch over
Coran in shifts. Don't let him out of your sight, day or night. If he
attempts to steal a lifeboat and escape, or makes the slightest
untoward move to hinder the operation of the ship or molest anyone
on board, shoot him—that's all. Since he has no room, he will share
yours for the remainder of the voyage."
Hamlin got a key and released Coran from his manacles.
Jomian glanced at him with an odd expression. "If you don't mind,
Coran, I'd like a word with you in private. If the captain has no
objection."
Harriman was curious, but nodded. "Are you sure you'll be safe with
him?"
Jomian smiled. "That's my worry. Send your men to my cabin in an
hour. After twelve years in the Space Patrol, I'm used to handling
bad boys."

Nine days out the Aphrodite ran into trouble.

Proximity alarms blared wildly. It was only a small asteroid, not more
than a quarter of a mile in diameter, just a jagged piece of rock and
fused metal. But it came out of a direct line with the sun, moving
fast, and discipline had been dangerously lax on the Aphrodite after
Harriman took over command.
At 9:05 ship time, there came the sound of a rending crash up
forward, followed by a nauseating sense of shock and withering
waves of motion energy transformed into heat. Fortunately, the
collision was a glancing one, but enough. The Aphrodite was a
shattered wreck. Her bow and the control room were carried away
bodily, and only the spacetight bulkheads of the waist saved the
passengers and crew from instant death.
At 9:20, feeling far off course, leaking air dangerously from sprung
seams, the doomed transport and the asteroid circled each other like
wary wrestlers awaiting an opening. Sooner or later, as the initial
force of the spin died down, they would crash together in flaming
holocaust. In the meantime, everything that could be done was
being done.
Orders went out to abandon ship. Of the original complement of four
hundred and eighty passengers and crew, nineteen were dead or
missing, and eighty others more or less seriously injured. The
heaviest casualties were among the rocket crew and officers, some
of whom were fatally burned by premature atomic discharge. Rocket
jets were set roaring at full capacity in a vain effort to break the
wreck away from the deadly vicinity of the circling asteroid.
Surviving crew members labored heroically to load and launch the
lifeboats from three airlocks, two of which were so badly jammed as
to be almost unworkable.
The forward compartments were a scene from inferno. Coran, who
had been with Nalson in the chartroom when the crash occurred,
picked himself out of the jumble of broken lockers and scattered
metal-leaf charts and crawled through the glare and heat to a
pitiable huddle of pulped flesh pinned beneath the wreckage of a
berylium table. Nalson's skull was fractured, blood pulsed from his
ears, and he was gasping out his life as Coran pried the table off
him. His eyes seemed bursting from his head.
"No excuse for wreck," he got out. "I'm ... Security Police. Sent me
in case you fumbled. Watch Harriman ... Hamlin."
A spurt of blood from his mouth and nose stopped his words. The
navigator spat savagely. "Think ... Hamlin's ... the man you want."
His lips moved weakly, then hung open as he died.

Using a leg of the ruined table as a wrecking bar, Coran pried open
the door and got into the passageway. A blast of sickening heat
rushed to meet him. Forward was a lurid glare of white hot metal,
and he could hear air shrieking through the leaks where seams had
started. He fought his way aft to a bank of elevators, but they were
hopelessly jammed.
Descending the spiral stairway, he encountered Paul Jomian.
"I thought you were gone," Jomian said. "The entire forward part of
the ship seems to be carried away."
"It is. I'm hard to kill. Nalson's dead. And so are the men in the
control room."
A kind of exhilaration moved in Coran. The endless waiting and
watching, under constant surveillance, had gotten on his nerves. He
was not used to intrigue. Now that a need for his kind of action had
arisen, he felt better already.
Jomian's left arm had compound fractures above and below the
elbow. It hung useless at his side, with splinters of bone thrusting
through mangled skin and flesh. Coran broke open a locker and gave
him emergency first aid, binding the limb with metal splints.
"That'll hold it till you can get it cared for. You'd better get to the
lifeboats. I'm going to find my wife. As I told you, she may be in this
racket, but I can't be sure. In any case, she's my responsibility."
"Can't I help?" Jomian asked.
"Not now. If I make it, we'll discuss it there. If not, you can take a
message for me. There's an ISP squadron six hours behind us. Get a
helioflash to them. Tell them to come a-running. I've an idea they'll
find something interesting."
"I'll get word to them," Jomian promised. "Take care of yourself,
boy."
The door of stateroom No. 200 was still locked and sealed. Coran
opened a locker and got out a wrench to work off the lugs on the
lock. A voice from behind jarred him.
"I've been looking for you," Hamlin sneered. "I thought you'd be up
to something." In the dimming and flaring light, Coran got a glimpse
of the blaster-gun in Hamlin's hand. Coran's fingers tightened on the
wrench. He spun around and hurled the wrench in one motion.
Hamlin pressed the trigger, but the wrench spoiled his aim. Coran
dodged under the gun and dragged him down in a flying tackle. The
gun went rattling down the corridor.
"Come away from there, you fool," Hamlin screamed as he broke
away. "D'you want the plague?" He edged toward the gun, but
Coran cut him off. Both lunged for it. Coran got it, but before he
could use it, Hamlin kicked him in the stomach. He rolled on the
floor in agony. Hamlin kicked again viciously. Coran fumbled with the
gun.
A warning alarm sounded. The boats were about to leave.
Coran got his breath back. "Help me get her out. She has no more
plague than you have. Besides, she's your—"
"You're mad," Hamlin shrieked. "They'd never let her into the boats.
I won't risk the lives of innocent people on your sayso." He leaned
across Coran to snatch at the gun. Coran clawed at his face and
layers of plastic came off in his fingers. Hamlin screamed as the stuff
came loose from his flesh. Then he turned and ran.
He darted up the companion stairs. By the time Coran could reach
the gun, it was too late. The man had vanished to the upper deck.
Coran got to his knees and aimed the blaster at the jammed lock on
the stateroom door. The mechanism and half the door disappeared
in ravening violence. The shock knocked Coran flat.
Gerda stepped through the shattered doorway.
"What's going on?" she wailed hysterically. It was apparent that she
had been crying, although she had tried to efface the marks.
"Never mind that. We've got to get you out of here. Are you all
right?"
She laughed wildly. "Of course I am! Has everyone gone crazy? You
look a fright. D'you want to carry me, or should I carry you?"
"Get to the lower decks. Find the doctor. Show him you're not sick.
And hurry—the lifeboats are leaving." Coran made a vague gesture
and slumped weakly against the wall while spirals of nausea raged
through him. She was halfway to the companion stair before she
noticed that he was not following. Coran had fainted.

Cold water splashing in his face revived him. His head was nestled in
her lap.
"What are you doing here?" he raged. "If you don't hurry, it will be
too late."
She answered with quiet assurance. "Listen, tough guy, you didn't
have to come back for me. D'you think I'd leave you to save my skin
after that?"
Coran shook his head to clear the mist of dizzy weakness, and she
helped him to his feet.
"Let's get going," he urged. "If the lifeboats leave before we reach
the airlock, you'll really be in a jam."
With the girl's arm tight around his waist to support him, he
managed to make it to the sally-port. The airlock door was closed.
"The boats have gone," he said. He sat down hopelessly on a
casket-like metal toolbox.
"Maybe someone will come," she said.
"That's what I'm afraid of," he snapped.
"In the meantime, I think we need some coffee ... if I can find an
unopened can."
Coran waved toward a locker where supplies were kept on
clipshelves. She found a can with built-in heat unit and opened it,
pouring coffee for them. He sipped his slowly, while she gulped
down a scalding draft.
"You seem very calm about all this," Coran said grimly.
"Hysterics won't help. Besides, you seem to be expecting someone.
What did you mean, that's what you're afraid of? Who would come
back?"
"Don't you know?"
She shook her head in bewilderment "How should I know? I'm a
stranger here myself."
"You may as well stop playing innocent. In case you don't already
know, I'm an officer in the space patrol. This wreck was deliberate,
planned by some of the crew. There are two possibilities. Either
they'll come back and try to salvage the plutonium cargo, or they
have confederates waiting in space to close in as soon as the ship is
abandoned. I don't look forward to either one."
"You act as if I knew something about all this," Gerda said irritably.
"I don't know why you should think so, but you're way off the track.
Why suspect me?"
"How can I help it, with that picture in your purse, and that phoney
deal you pulled by playing sick?"
Gerda flushed, whether from anger or guilt Coran would have given
much to know.
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