The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-09-20
Fishing Boats Exempt.

Ne' E-Ndns - PRESIDING
Fishing Boats Exempt.
When a ship belongs to the enemy it
is almost always lawful to take her.
There are a very few exceptions. A fish
ing boat is exempt, and so is a small
local trading vessel. and a mission ship.
and a ship conveying exchanged prison
ers 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 our own
waters or on the high seas. II is when
a vessel flies a neutral flag that dificul-
ties begin. II the neutral flag was hoist
ed aboard an enemy ship without bona
ide sale and delivery 10 q neutral COM
pleted by the payment Of the purchase
money. there is no transfer Of property,
and the ship is an enemy ship still.
Again. a ship. the undoubted property
Of a neutral. may be violating her neu-
trality. She may have committed a
breach OF blockade. She may have alb
solute contraband on board-goods that
is to say, that are deemed specially
adapted for warlike purposes. Or she
may be conveying conditional contraband
goods rendered contraband by the
ships destination
II neutral ship is bound for an ordi-
cially warlike will be presumed not to
be intended for a beIligerent. but to be
intended for civil use only, whereas il
the destination be a military or naval
station a precisely opposite conclusion
will be drawn. Moreover. the neutral
ship may lose her character by conveying
military or naval officers or carrying a
beIligerent's dispatches. In such events
she is liable equally with the avowed
=
within the territorial waters of a neutral
state.
These are a few of the points that may
be connected with the capture of a ship
at sea. Hence the Importance of the rule
that the matter shall be brought prompt
ly into court for adjudication, so that the
vessel may be condemned il her capture
was rightly made. or that restitution
may be ordered in the event Of any mis-
take having been committed. The hear
ing itself is necessarily quite unlike any
ordinary legal proceedings. Difference OF
languages. distance. and the impracti-
cability of collecting foreign witnesses
for cross-examination are all factors
which help to put anything like normal
legal methods out Of the question. Ac-
cordingly. series OF simple tests or
rules have been laid down relating to the
ship papers, the character and destina-
ton of the cargo. and the answers OF
those on board to the inteTroEatories put
to them. II these rules have been trans
crossed. the presumption is against the
ship. and she is condemned in the alb
sence of contrary proof in her favor. On
the other hand. il the rules have not
been transgressed the presumption is the
other way. suspicious are disreeardeo
and the captive goes free.
ships Papers Important.
It will be seen that the ships papers,
the books. passes. charter parties. bills
of IadinE. letters, and so forth found on
board are Of the greatest Importance II
the ship Is to he convicted out OF her
own mouth" Where the papers make
significant revelations. or where there is
a discrepancy between the papers and
the ships course. the evidence against
the ship may be even more damning
than that afforded by the character of
the cargo or the statements of her crew.
II is therefore one Of the first duties of
the captor to secure all the papers. and
arrange and number them. and when the
prize has been brought into port the pa
pers are handed over to the custody of
the registrar Of the prize court.
As soon as a ship is condemned II is
the property of the crown, and it was
as grantees OF the crown that the cap
tors Of rich prizes in the old days were
enriched. The system. however. worked
unfairly to the navy as a whole, for the
actual captors were ordinarily the COM
manders and crews of fast cruisers who
proved upon the enemy's commerce,
while those bearing the brunt of battle
in the heavy ships OF the line got moth
ing. A new plan is now being adopted,
and It is to be hoped that in its working
It will not deprive the navy. which
guards our very existence as ma
ton, of the rewards that are its
due, but. will only provide for more
equitable distribution.
Prize courts are still subject only to
their own sovereigns. Belligerents are
sole judges in their own cause. and II IS
not surprising that their decisions nave
often been disputed by neutrals. 10
avoid these difficulties and the necessity
Of getting over them by spch cumorous
expedients as mixed commissions at the
end of a war. various plans for an inter,
national court have been formulated, and
m 1907, at The Hague conference after
endless discussion. a convention was
actually framed. The rule to be applied.
bowever, remained the subject of such
conflicting views that II was not practi-
cable to set up the court.