Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-06-10
PRIZE COURT FOR FRYE
IS BERLIN'S DECREE


Continued from Page One
States, or of the American rights derived
therefrom. For these treaties did not
have the intention OF deprivIng one of the
contracting parties engaged In war OF the
right OF stopping the supply of contraband
to his enemy when he recognizes the sup
ply of such as detrimental to his military
interests. On the contrary, Article l3 Of
the Prussan- American treaty OF July IL,
1889 expressly reserves to the party at
war the right to stop the carrying of con-
traband and to detain the contraband; II
follows, then, that II II cannot be accom-
plished in any other way, the stopping OF
the supply may in the extreme case bo
affected by the destruction of the contra
band and of the ship carrying It. As
matter Of course the obligation Of the
party at war to pay compensation to the
parties Interested of the neutral contract
Ing party remains in force whatever bo
the manner of stopping the supply.
According to general principles of in
ternatioual law any exercise of the
right OF control over the trade in contra
band Is subject to the decision of the
prize courts. even thuuuh such right may
bo restricted by special treaties. At the
hcginning of the present war Germany.
pursuant to these principles, established
by law prize jurisdiction for cases of the
kind under consideration. The case of
the William P. Frye is likewise subject
to the German prize jurisdiction, for the
Prussian- American treaties mentioned
contain no stipulation as to how tho
amount of the compensation provided by
Article 10 of treaty cited is to be fixed.
The German Government therefore, com
plies with its treaty obligations to a full
extent when the prize courts instituted
by it in accordance with international
law proceed in pursuance of the treaty
stipulations and thus awarded the Amer
lean interested an equitable indemnity.
There would, therefore, be no foundation
for a claim of the American Government
unless the prize courts should not grant
indemnity in accordance with the treaty;
I'm such event, however. the German
Government would not hesitate to ar
range for equitable indemnity notwith-
standing, For the rest prize proceed
ings of the case of the Frye are indis-
pensable, apart from the American
claims. for the reason that other claims
of the neutral and enemy interested
parties are to be considered in the mat
ter.
As was stated in the note OF April 4
last the Prize Court should have to de-
eide the questions whether the destruc-
tion of the ship and cargo was legal,
whether and under what conditions the
property sunk was liable to confscation,
and to whom and in what amount indem-
nifty Is TO be paid provided application
therefor is received. Since the decision
OF the Prize Court must first be awaited
before any further position is taken by
the German Government, the simplest
way for the American interested parties
to settle their claims would be to enter
them in the competent records in ac-
cordance with the provisions OF the Ger
man code of prize proceedings.
The undersigned begs to suggest that
the Ambassador bring the above to the
knowledge of his Government and avails
himself, etc. Won JAGOW
Minister for Foreign Affairs.