In May 2000 , Rodney Marks , an astrophysicistspending the wintertime at the South Pole , died suddenly after an sharp illness . He ’d been throw up blood and hyperventilate during the 24 hours before his last . Because no flights could put down during the frigid wintertime , Marks ' organic structure had to be stored for month until late October and then autopsied in New Zealand , Antarctica ’s near neighbour .
The mysterious decease touched off an international incident . Marks was an Australian shape on a U.S. cornerstone ( Amundsen - Scott South Pole Station ) and the investigation into his death was being handled in New Zealand . If it turned out to be ruled a homicide , where would the case be try ?
It ’s not a elementary inquiry . Despite being the temporary home base for thousands of scientific researcher , civilian staffers and a few hardy tourists , Antarctica is literally a no - man ’s land . According to the 1961Antarctic Treaty , the Charles Percy Snow - packed continent belongs to no nation , which construct criminal jurisdictions a messy affair .
In the United States , if you commit a crime , you are examine by either a state or Union court of justice , depending on the type of criminal offence and where it took place . American court even have legal power for certain crimes committed outside the nation ’s borders , like a murder on a ship take flight the American pin , or a crime at a U.S. military base or installation oversea . somewhat straightforward .
Antarctica , though , is anything but square . Dr. Alan Hemmings is an expert on Antarctic governance and spend two winters at the South Pole with the British Antarctic Survey . In an email interview , he explain that there are no cleared effectual legal power in Antarctica , because there are no recognize district .
Seven countries — Argentina , Australia , Britain , Chile , France , New Zealand and Norway — make pie - shaped territorial claims on the icy barren , and the United States and Russia exercise sovereignty at their own inquiry stations . But none of these claim are formally recognized by the Antarctic Treaty , and a few of them even overlap .
rather , Hemmings say , the general rule is that a crime commit by a U.S. citizen at a U.S.-owned enquiry facility would be prosecuted in a U.S. court . The same for Russia , New Zealand , Japan or any other of the 29 rural area operating research station in Antarctica .
" But if the dead person and the alleged manslayer are from different land [ state ] and do n’t recognise each other ’s claim ( and most do n’t ) , particularly if the critical issue hap aside from anybody ’s station — say , at a coterie site — then it wo n’t necessarily be unclouded who has jurisdiction , " Hemmings says .
As far as Hemmings knows , there ’s never been a reprehensible prosecution for a murder committed in Antarctica . That ’s not to say the frozen continent is free from violence and vice . The dismal and glacial Antarctic wintertime , coupled with farsighted stretches of closing off or cramp cohabitation — plus loads of heavy drunkenness — have driven many to the brink . story circulateof a Russian man who pop a fellow over a cheat game , and of a researcher sick with cabin fever who burned down his own station .
Ultimately New Zealand claimed legal jurisdiction in the Marks case , since it had self-command of his trunk . An investigating uncovered no clear grounds of foul play , so there were no arrests or prosecutions . The leading theory is that Marks drank a bad batch of liquor , as his autopsy showed his body contained lethal trace of methanol .
Hemmings believes that in the event of a peculiarly heinous offence involving citizens from different countries , the political party " will likely cooperate with each other and may very well agree that one of them takes legal power , or come up with some inventive solution . "
But some sound observers are have-to doe with that good will and cooperation are n’t enough , and that the decades - old Antarctic Treaty needs to be updated before a truly messy crime happens on the ice . In a 2003paperon the legal " Wild West " that is Antarctica , Towson University law of nature professor W. Michael Seganish proposed that the 22 nations that made up a governing committee for Antarctic affairs establish a unified criminal code .
Currently , " one can not easily specify whether an action is a criminal turn because of the various area imply and multiple bases for jurisdiction . This is an unendurable situation for a deplorable defendant and violates any sane concept of due process , " Seganish wrote .
In the absence of such an external understanding , there ’s no saying how or where an Antarctic murderer would be call to judge . This issue may become increasingly important as more and more nations and corporations eye Antarctica’srich fossil oil reservesfor future exploitation .
