The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1914-08-15
FATE OF SHIPS
SEIZED IN WAR
Nation Taking Merchant VGs-
sci Sole Judge Of Its Prize.
NO WORLD CODE AT PRESENT

F
at London Conference In 1909 Held
Up by Great Britain-United States
as Neutral Country Could Claim Re-
endorsement From an Offender.
Merchant ships seized as prizes dur
ing the European war will be dealt
with by the prize courts of the nations
making the capture unless an inter
national prlze court should be set up.
In recent years attempts have been
made by the great nations TO establish
an international tribunal 70 decide
whether II merchant ship was seized ON
justidable grounds and to award dam
ages where the capture or sinking Of
such ship was unwarranted.
AS things are now, if ships of the
United States are seized as prizes in
the present war, this country has the
right to make a protest, which would
ordinarily end in a settlement before
an award court established for the oc-
casion. The advocates OF an interna-
tional prize court say that 1t would
work more swiftly and that its very
existence would make warning nations
proceed more carefully in the taking OF
prizes
According TO the present internatiOn-
al practice, the helligerents nation cap
turing a neutral merchant ship is the
judge to decide whether the vessel is a
valid prize. The carrying OF contra
band. the attempt to run u blockade or
the rendering of other kinds of 'un-
neutral service makes neutral mer-
chant ships liable to contiscation.
Treaty Obligations Only Exception.
There is at present no international
code which specifies the offenses
against neutrality which make mer-
chant ship lawful prize, and each ma
ton involved i'm war settles the ques-
ton according to its own lights, ex-
cept where it is bound by treaty OBJ
legations with neutral nations.
A plan was adopted at the interna-
honal naval conference at London in
1863 to establish an international prize
court, and that such a court has not
been established is due to the failure
Of Great Britain TO pass the necessary
legislation. The delegates of Great
Britain were among the strongest ad-
yocates of the international prize court
at the second Hague peace conference
in 1907, but the plan was defeated by
strong popular opposition in England,
especially by the conservatives.
According to James Brown Scott, ed.
tier of the American Journal Of Inter
nafipGai Law. the establishment of the
International prize court depends upon
the action Of Great Britain. He says:
1.-The signatories of the original con-
v0rtion and of the declaration have
wafted, and are still waiting. for favor
able action by Great Britain upon these
two international documents, apparomt-
ly unwilling to create the international
prize court without the cooperation OF
Great Britain and to bind themselves
by the provisions of a declara tion call
ed by Great Britain to meet British
objection unless it is ratified by Great
Britain. The establishment of the
prize court therefore is thus made to
depend upon the action of Great Brit
ain.''
Article OF tie prize court conven-
ton is as follows:
o,tactfop oF isu, - - 4.
covered by a treaty in force between the
belfgerent captOr and a power which il
itself or whose subject or citizen is a par
ty to the proceedings the court is govern
ed by the provisions Of the said treaty.
In the absence Of such provisions the
court should apply the rules Of nterna-
uonal law. If no generally recognized
rufe exists the court shall give judgment
1 in accordance with general principles OF
justice and equity.
1t is unlikely, according to DR. Ellery
c. Stowell of Columbia university.
New York. and an expert on interna-
tional law, that any of the nations at
war will take steps to bring about the
establishment of such court just now.
''The court would be of great ad-
vantage 10 neutral powers" said DR.
Stowell ''but there is no reason why
a belligerent should be anxious to es-
tablish such court now. The two
principal neutrals i'm this war, as IL ap-
pears, will be the United States and
Italy. These two nations might insist
upon the rights Of neutrality defined
by the London declaration, but it is
hard to see how the nations at war
could be brought to establish the inter
national prize court. If such a court
were established its usefulness would
not begin until the war was over un-
less the war proves TO be very long
one"