Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/28

 20 PRIZE zens of a country which is under the permanent or temporary dominion of the enemies of an- other country are considered as the citizens of the latter, and all trade with them is illegal, unless the government chooses to recognize the country as neutral, in which case courts of justice are bound hy such recognition. It is very doubtful whether a citizen of one country can expatriate himself on the breaking out of war, in order to acquire neutral rights and privileges ; but it is certain that if he removes in order to mask his mercantile projects under a neutral flag, such an act is fraudulent and of no avail. But if he has removed during peace, and acquired a domicile in a foreign country, he may engage in trade with a country which is at peace with his adopted country, although at war with that of his nativity. A citizen of one country residing and doing business in another, resumes his native character if, on war breaking out, he puts himself in itinereto return to the country of his birth or adoption ; but the mere intention without some overt act is not sufficient. A man may have a neutral residence, and yet his property may acquire a hostile character. So, he may be a merchant in more countries than one, and may thus ac- quire at least a quasi domicile besides that of his birth and parentage ; and this would be respected by the law, provided there was no indication of fraudulent intention, that is, of giving himself two national characters, be- tween which he could choose from time to time, as suited the exigencies of the moment. The property of a house of trade in an enemy's country is liable to condemnation, whatever be the domicile of the partners who consti- tute the house. If some of the partners have a neutral residence, their separate property will not bo affected by the fact of their being connected with a house of trade in a hostile country. And when a shipment is made by the house to a partner in a neutral country, or by a partner in a hostile country to a house in a neutral country, it depends upon the question to whose account and risk the goods are shipped, whether they are liable to be condemned as prize. Commercial factories in a foreign country, which are free from the control of the government of that country, are considered as belonging to the country by which they are established, and the nationality of persons engaged therein is determined ac- cordingly. But this exception does not apply where the government of the country has the control, although peculiar privileges are grant- ed to the subjects of a particular nation. A foreign minister does not lose his domicile in his own country by residing in the foreign one to which he is accredited ; but if he engages in trade there, he is, in respect to such trade, con- sidered as a citizen of the country where it is carried on. It sometimes occurs that circum- stances will not permit property captured at sea to be sent into port. The captor in such & case may destroy it, or allow the master or owner to ransom it. Such a contract is valid by the laws of nations, but it is prohibited in England by statute. By the ransom bill the vessel is protected from subsequent capture un- til she reaches her own country, or the country specified in the bill, provided there be no devi- ation from the course of the voyage. G enerally some of the officers and crew are retained as hostages, and if they die, or the vessel is lost by a peril of the sea before her arrival in port, unless it is otherwise stipulated in the bill, tho ransom is nevertheless due ; for the captors do not insure either the safe arrival of the ves- sel or the lives of the hostages. If the vessel deviates and is afterward captured and con- demned, the better opinion seems to be that the price of the ransom is to be deducted from the proceeds of the prize and given to the first captor, and the residue given to the second. If the captor himself should after the seizure be taken by an enemy's cruiser, together with the ransom bill, the ransom becomes part of the lawful conquest of tho enemy, and the debtors of tho ransom are consequently dis- charged from the contract under tho ransom bill. Tho right which a captor acquires by the seizure is an inchoate right merely, and is subject to be divested before condemnation. If there is a recapture, escape, or voluntary discharge of the property, a court of prize cannot proceed to adjudication. By the Ro- man law of jus pottliminii, persons or things taken by the enemy were restored to their former state upon coming again into posses- sion of the nation to which they had belonged. Formerly, as between the belligerents, the title to property captured passed after it had been in the possession of the captors 24 hours ; and if after that time it was recaptured by third persons, they became tho absolute owners of it. Now, however, the property of the origi- nal owners is not divested until condemnation, and tho recaptors are merely entitled to sal- vage, tho amount of which is in the United States fixed by statute for most cases, and when not so fixed is determined by the gen- eral principles of law. There is some conflict of authority whether the crew of a vessel who recapture it before condemnation are entitled to salvage. It would seem that in the United States they are not, because it is considered to be the duty of the crew to do all that they can to save the vessel until she is condemned. If a treaty of peace makes no particular pro- visions relative to captured property, it re- mains in the same condition in which the treaty finds it. In England, as between Eng- lish subjects, the right of postliminy subsists to the end of the war, and foreign nations are treated with the same liberality which they accord in similar circumstances to England. The property of a subject or an ally engaged in commerce with the enemy is liable to capture ; and it makes no difference whether the trade be direct or indirect. The law of nations per- mits vessels to sail and chase under false colors,