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单词 prize law
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Prize Law


Prize Law

 

the system of international laws and rules that regulates the seizure of merchant vessels and cargo at sea by warring countries.

Unlike the rules of land warfare, rules of naval warfare recognize the seizure of private enemy property by warships as just, based on international custom and the resolutions of numerous conferences, including the Paris Declaration of 1856, the Hague Convention of 1907, and the London Declaration of 1909. It is also permitted to seize merchant vessels of a neutral country if they are carrying contraband or providing other services for the enemy. The property of the merchant vessels, the prize, is declared to be the property of the state that seized it upon a decision by special judicial or administrative bodies (prize courts), which are specially established during wartime. In Great Britain and the United States prize hearings are held within the framework of the regular legal system.

Prize Law


Prize Law

During times of war, belligerent states may attempt to interfere with maritime commerce to prevent ships from carrying goods that will aid the war effort of an opponent. After ships are captured and brought to a friendly port, a local tribunal called a prize court will determine the legality of the seizure, or the destruction of the vessel and cargo if the vessel cannot be sailed to a friendly port. The body of customary International Law and treaties that determines the appropriateness of such actions is referred to as prize law.

Prize law has not been completely consistent in its development because the tribunals that rule on the seizure of the vessel are national tribunals and may reflect the interests of the belligerent state in interdicting the enemy war effort. The expanding scope of warfare and the concept of total war have also blurred the distinction between vessels subject to capture as a prize of war and those that are exempt. Some basic rules remain, however. All vessels of an enemy state are subject to seizure at any time by an opposing belligerent. Warships may be sunk immediately, and private merchant vessels are to be taken to a friendly port, if possible, for adjudication by a prize court. A neutral vessel on the high seas or in a belligerent's territorial sea may be stopped and searched, if it is suspected of carrying contraband, and may be condemned as a prize of war if any is found. Finally the right of coastal fishing vessels of any state to be free from seizure while plying their trade is almost universally recognized.

Cross-references

Admiralty and Maritime Law.

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