Tonopah daily bonanza., 1914-09-23
DUTIES Of PRIZE
COURT DEFINED
BY AOM|RALT LTY

tBy international News ServIceD
LONDON, Sept 23.-The capture
by British cruisers OF German mer
chant vessels all over the world since
the beginning Of the great European
war has caused the admiralty to re-
yive that ancient institution, the prize
court. The captured vessels, now
held by the government, must be dis
posed of, and the proceeds, accord
Ing to precedent, will be pro-rated
among the men who made the cap
ture.
Not for sixty years has a prize
court sat in England. The last was
in 1854, in the Crimean war, when
the fate of the Leucade was decided
In the wars of the present genera
tion, half-forgetful of the possibility
that this country might once again
be swept into a huge international
struggle, the expressions prize court"
and prize of war" have a remote and
unfamiliar sound.
Booty means spoil taken from the
enemy on land Prize means ship or
goods taken on the water The first
is a simple affair belligerent is
I in possession Of certain property; his
conqueror takes II from him; and
there Is no more TO be said. Prize Is
much more complicated, The capture
\ of ship may give rise to all sorts
I OF questions affecting nations who are
not at war at all. and whose rights
as neutrals must be respected. II is
/ here that the need for adjudication
i arises, and il is in order TO settle all
/ such questions and to decide in each
4 instance whether the captive is or is
not lawful prey that recourse is had
to a prize court like that over which
Sir Samuel Evans will be presiding
in the course OF the next few days.
When a ship belongs to the enemy
IL is almost always lawful to take
her. There are a very few eXcep-
tions A fishing boat is exempt and
so is small local trading vessel
and mission ship, and ship con
veying exchanged prisoners of war
Apart from such trifiing and fairly
obvious exceptions, a ship sailing
under the colors or pass of the enemy
may always be taken either in oui
own waters or on the high seas. II
is when a vessel flies a neutral flag
that difficulties begin If the neutra
Z nag was NOlSleu dDodIu an enemy
ship without a bona iide sale and de
livery to neutral completed by th'
payment of the purchase money, there
is no transfer of property, and thu
enemy ship is an enemy ship still
Again, ship, the undoubted propert.
of a neutral may be violating hel
neutrality. She may have committed
breach of blockade. She may hav'
absolute contraband on board-goods
that is to say. that are deemed spe
cially adapted for warlike purposes
Or she may be conveying conditional
contraband goods rendered contra
band by the ships destination. II
neutral ship is bound for an ordinar.
commercial port, a cargo not specia
warlike will be presumed not to b.
z intended to aid a belligerent, but I
/ be intended for civil use only, where
as il the destination be military o
naval station a precisely opposite cor
clusion will be drawn. Moreover, tn
neutral ship may lose her characte
by conveying military or naval of
GERS or carrying a belligerents dii
patches. In such events she is lab
equally with the avowed enemy to
captured anywhere except within til
n territorial waters of a neutral state
0-