S.S. Wimbledon case
E47944
international court case
judgment of the Permanent Court of International Justice
landmark case in international law
The S.S. Wimbledon case was a landmark 1923 decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice that clarified the limits of state sovereignty under international treaty obligations, particularly regarding freedom of navigation through the Kiel Canal.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| S.S. Wimbledon case canonical | 2 |
| Case of the S.S. Wimbledon | 1 |
| S.S. Wimbledon (France, Italy, Japan and United Kingdom v. Germany) | 1 |
| S.S. Wimbledon (case) | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T375883 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: S.S. Wimbledon case Context triple: [Permanent Court of International Justice, significantCase, S.S. Wimbledon case]
-
A.
Sherbert v. Verner
Sherbert v. Verner is a landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case that strengthened protections for religious liberty by requiring strict scrutiny of government actions that substantially burden individuals’ religious practices.
-
B.
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins is a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case that established that employment decisions based on gender stereotyping violate federal anti-discrimination law and clarified the burden-shifting framework for mixed-motive discrimination claims.
-
C.
Ware v. Hylton
Ware v. Hylton was a 1796 U.S. Supreme Court case that held federal treaties override conflicting state laws, helping to establish the authority of the national government under the Constitution.
-
D.
United States v. Comstock
United States v. Comstock is a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s authority to civilly commit mentally ill, sexually dangerous federal prisoners beyond their release date under the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause.
-
E.
Briggs v. Elliott
Briggs v. Elliott was a landmark federal court case from South Carolina challenging racial segregation in public schools, and it became one of the key cases consolidated into Brown v. Board of Education.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: S.S. Wimbledon case Target entity description: The S.S. Wimbledon case was a landmark 1923 decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice that clarified the limits of state sovereignty under international treaty obligations, particularly regarding freedom of navigation through the Kiel Canal.
-
A.
Sherbert v. Verner
Sherbert v. Verner is a landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case that strengthened protections for religious liberty by requiring strict scrutiny of government actions that substantially burden individuals’ religious practices.
-
B.
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins
Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins is a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case that established that employment decisions based on gender stereotyping violate federal anti-discrimination law and clarified the burden-shifting framework for mixed-motive discrimination claims.
-
C.
Ware v. Hylton
Ware v. Hylton was a 1796 U.S. Supreme Court case that held federal treaties override conflicting state laws, helping to establish the authority of the national government under the Constitution.
-
D.
United States v. Comstock
United States v. Comstock is a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s authority to civilly commit mentally ill, sexually dangerous federal prisoners beyond their release date under the Constitution’s Necessary and Proper Clause.
-
E.
Briggs v. Elliott
Briggs v. Elliott was a landmark federal court case from South Carolina challenging racial segregation in public schools, and it became one of the key cases consolidated into Brown v. Board of Education.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
international court case
ⓘ
judgment of the Permanent Court of International Justice ⓘ landmark case in international law ⓘ |
| applicantStates | France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
international responsibility
ⓘ
law of treaties ⓘ public international law ⓘ |
| citationStyleName |
S.S. Wimbledon case
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
S.S. Wimbledon (France, Italy, Japan and United Kingdom v. Germany)
|
| concernsWaterway | Kiel Canal ⓘ |
| courtSeat | The Hague ⓘ |
| decidingCourt | Permanent Court of International Justice ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1923-08-17 ⓘ |
| disputeOrigin | refusal by Germany to allow passage of the S.S. Wimbledon through the Kiel Canal ⓘ |
| findingOnNeutrality | Germany’s neutrality regulations could not override its treaty obligations regarding the Kiel Canal ⓘ |
| findingOnSovereignty | a state may voluntarily limit its sovereignty by entering into international treaties ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance | early and influential decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice ⓘ |
| holding |
Germany was not entitled to refuse passage to the S.S. Wimbledon through the Kiel Canal
ⓘ
treaty obligations limited Germany’s freedom to invoke neutrality to close the Kiel Canal ⓘ |
| influenced |
later international law doctrine on international waterways and canals
ⓘ
subsequent jurisprudence on treaty-based limitations of sovereignty ⓘ |
| involvesState |
France
ⓘ
Italy ⓘ Japan ⓘ United Kingdom ⓘ |
| languageOfProceedings |
English
ⓘ
French ⓘ |
| legalIssue |
interpretation of the Treaty of Versailles provisions on the Kiel Canal
ⓘ
whether Germany could rely on its neutrality laws to deny passage through the Kiel Canal ⓘ |
| officialName |
S.S. Wimbledon case
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Case of the S.S. Wimbledon
|
| principleAffirmed |
freedom of navigation in international canals subject to treaty regimes
ⓘ
limitations on state sovereignty accepted by treaty are legally binding ⓘ pacta sunt servanda ⓘ primacy of international treaty obligations over conflicting domestic law ⓘ |
| reparationIssue | Germany was held responsible for wrongful denial of passage ⓘ |
| respondentState | Germany ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
freedom of navigation
ⓘ
international treaty interpretation ⓘ international waterways ⓘ law of the sea ⓘ limits of state sovereignty ⓘ |
| treatyInterpreted | Treaty of Versailles ⓘ |
| treatyProvisionConcerned | Articles on freedom of passage through the Kiel Canal ⓘ |
| vesselFlag | French ⓘ |
| vesselName | S.S. Wimbledon ⓘ |
| vesselType | steamship ⓘ |
| yearDecided | 1923 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: S.S. Wimbledon case Description of subject: The S.S. Wimbledon case was a landmark 1923 decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice that clarified the limits of state sovereignty under international treaty obligations, particularly regarding freedom of navigation through the Kiel Canal.
Referenced by (5)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Case of the S.S. Wimbledon
this entity surface form:
S.S. Wimbledon (France, Italy, Japan and United Kingdom v. Germany)
this entity surface form:
S.S. Wimbledon (case)