Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/29

 PRIZE 21 but not to fire a gun or capture under them. It has become an established principle of the law of nations, that a nation which takes no part in a war shall have the same rights which it has in time of peace, except so far as the ex- ercise of these rights would materially inter- fere with the permanent rights of the belliger- ents. Within her own territory, which for this and for other purposes extends a marine league from the shore, a neutral nation is supreme. No belligerent has a right to make a capture in her waters, or to arm or equip his ships of war in her ports, and if either of these things is done the neutral is bound to redress the injury. A ship has no right to station itself in a neu- tral port and send out boats to make hostile seizures. The neutral nation may allow certain privileges to one of the belligerents, but only such as she is willing to allow to the other. She cannot lend money to one belligerent, but if she is under a previous stipulation, made in time of peace, to furnish a given number of ships or troops to one of the belligerents, the contract may be complied with. If a prize is brought into a neutral port, the neutral govern- ment may exercise jurisdiction so far as to re- store the property of its own subjects which has been illegally captured. And it has been held in the United States that foreign ships which offend against the laws of that country within its jurisdiction may be seized upon the ocean, and brought back for adjudication. In 1793 the government of the United States es- tablished rules of neutrality which it required foreign belligerent powers to observe in their intercourse with this country. Among others was one which provided that if an armed ves- sel of one nation should depart from our juris- diction, no armed vessel within the same port and belonging to an adverse belligerent power should depart until 24 hours after the former. It is now a universally admitted principle of the law of nations that a belligerent has a right in time of war to visit and search all vessels on the ocean, in order to determine whether they or their cargoes are hostile or neutral. This right gives also as a necessary incident the right to seize and send in the ves- sel for adjudication, whenever its real charac- ter, or that of its cargo, is justly open to sus- picion. The neutral must submit, and if her crew rise and endeavor to recapture the ves- sel, it is a hostile act, which subjects the vessel and cargo to condemnation. Neutral goods may be carried in a belligerent vessel even if the latter is armed, according to the law in the United States ; and a neutral ship is not sub- ject to seizure if she has belligerent goods on board. Attempts have been made at different times to engraft on the law of nations the principle that free ships make free goods, but the law remains unchanged, except as it has been modified by treaties between particular nations. The question whether a country, which during peace confines the trade of its colonies to its own subjects, can during war open such trade to a neutral, has been much discussed. In England it has been held that it cannot; but this rule has been repudiated by the government of the United States. Neu- trals are not permitted to carry goods which are contraband of war, or to enter a blockaded port. (See BLOCKADE, and CONTRABAND.) Breach of blockade forfeits the vessel, and in some cases the cargo; but according to the modern practice, the carrying of contraband goods only forfeits the goods, and the owner of the vessel loses merely his freight and ex- penses, unless the same person owns both ship and cargo, or some fraud appears in the trans- action, in which cases both ship and cargo are forfeited. If an enemy's cargo is captured in a neutral vessel, the vessel has a claim on the captors for freight. But this rule is limited by the reason of it, and if the cargo be con- traband, or the voyage be quasi contraband, then the neutral vessel loses its freight. The rule that freight is not earned unless the goods are carried to their destination, applies to cap- ture. But if the captor takes the goods where they should have been carried, and even if he does this substantially though not precisely, as by bringing goods to Boston which were destined to New York, freight is due. All seizures at sea are made at the peril of the captors. If, on being sent in, the vessel and cargo are acquitted, the captors are responsible for all damages and costs, unless the capture was made with probable cause. What is prob- able cause is a question of some difficulty, and depends very much upon the facts of each particular case. In general, if the papers ap- peared false or colorable, or were suppressed, mutilated, or spoliated ; if the voyage were to or from a blockaded port ; or if other circum- stances of a like nature occurred, the captors would be justified in sending the vessel in for adjudication. After the vessel is captured, the captors are responsible for any loss which may occur by the negligence, fault, or misconduct of the prize officers and crew ; but they are not responsible if a loss occurs from accident, stress of weather, recapture, &c. While a ship is forfeited by the master's disguising belliger- ent property on board as neutral, without the authority, assent, or knowledge of the owner, this act does not operate as a breach of neu- trality as to the goods on board which are ac- tually neutral and proved to be so by proper documents, and belong to another owner than him who has forfeited the goods. If neutral interests or property are undistinguishably mixed up with belligerent interests or proper- ty, they become liable themselves to all the incidents and effects of a belligerent charac- ter. A resistance to search when rightfully demanded, an attempt at rescue, and seeking belligerent protection or receiving it, are all breaches of the duty of a neutral. Some ques- tion has arisen as to what is a rescue. It is the duty of the captors to put on board persons competent to navigate the vessel into port for