A French Court’s Bizarre Verdict Roils Southeast Asian Waters

Inexplicable ruling rests on entities that have long since ceased to exist

The recent decision by a French court to award the supposed heirs of the Sultan of Sulu a ludicrous sum of money in an arcane case stemming from long-disappeared colonial entities might well be considered a new form of neo-colonialism, or perhaps just a way of making national courts of law look ridiculous by entertaining preposterous claims.

Others might…