Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/62

 42 Of Letters of Marque, ^c, [Ch.IV. Sec. III. such request of satisfaction made, the party required do not within convenient time make due satisfaction or restitution to the party grieved, the Lord Chancellor shall make him out letters of marque under the great seal, and by virtue of these he may attack and seize the property of the aggressor nation, without liazard of being condemned as a robber or pirate. This statute, it will be observed, relates only to injuries dur- ing peace, and to the grant of letters of marque and reprisals to the subject who is actually injured by the foreigners. It is said, that the mode of obtaining letters of marque pointed out in the statute has been long disused (a). By various statutes, enacted during every war, the Lord High Admiral, or tlie Commissioners of the Admiralty, are empowered to grant commissions, or, as they are also called, letters of marque and reprisals, to the owners of ships, enabling them to attack and take the property of his Majesty's enemies; which statutes contain also various provisions as to the prizes captured {h). These statutes do not, it should seem, affect the royal preroga- tive in question in the slightest degree. Letters of marque and reprisals granted by the Crown are liberally construed, but may be vacated in three ways — 1st, by express revocation (c), but this is only allowable in the case of letters granted during war ; when granted in time of peace and unsatisfied, it is otherwise {d) ; though, 2dly, even in such case, the cessation of hostilities will defeat the rights granted {e). — 3rdly, These letters may be vacated by the mis- conduct of the grantees, as by cruelty, &c. (f). In cases of recapture, no letter of marque from the King is required to give to the recaptor the benefit of the same salvage to which he would have been entitled if he had been provided with letters of marque [g)* The King, however, has the right of releasing any prize .previously to its condemnation. This, said Lord Ellenborough, in the case of Sterling v. Vaughan (A), is an implied exception in the grant of prize by the Crown. (a) I Bla. Com. 259. Christian's ed. (rf) Ibid. note 8. (e) Ibid. 2 Wooddn. V. L. 440. 1 (6) See 29 Geo. 2. c. 34. 19 Geo. 3. Vern. 54. . c. 67. 43 Geo. 3. c. 160. 45 Geo. 3. (/) 5 Rob. Rep. 9. c. 72. Molloy, oh. 358. (^) 2 Ibid. 224. (c) Molloy, lib. 1. c. 2. s. 8. Cbitty, {h) 11 East, 619. L. of Nat. 74, 5. By