(1) According to article 55 of the Declaration, the transfer of an enemy vessel to a neutral flag, if effected _before_ the outbreak of hostilities, is _valid_, unless the captor is able to prove that the transfer was made in order to avoid capture. However, if the bill of sale is not on board the transferred vessel, and if the transfer was effected less than sixty days before the outbreak of hostilities, the transfer is presumed to be void, unless the vessel can prove that such transfer was not effected in order to avoid capture. To provide commerce with a guarantee that a transfer should not easily be treated as void on the ground that it was effected for the purpose of evading capture, it is stipulated that, in case the transfer was effected more than thirty days before the outbreak of hostilities, there is an absolute presumption of its validity, provided the transfer was unconditional, complete, and in conformity with the laws of the countries concerned, and further, provided that neither the control of, nor the profits arising from, the employment of the vessels remain in the same hands as before the transfer. But even in this case a vessel is suspect if the transfer took place less than sixty days before the outbreak of hostilities, and if her bill of sale is not on board. Hence she may be seized and brought into a port of a prize court for investigation, and she cannot claim damages for the capture, even if the Court releases her. (2) According to article 56 of the Declaration, the transfer of an enemy vessel to a neutral flag, if effected _after_ the outbreak of hostilities, is _void_ unless the vessel can prove that the transfer was not made in order to avoid capture. And such proof is excluded, and an absolute presumption is established that the transfer is void, if the transfer has been made in a blockaded port or while the vessel was _in transitu_, further, if a right to repurchase or recover the vessel is reserved to the vendor, and lastly, if the requirements of the Municipal Law governing the right to fly the flag under which the vessel is sailing have not been fulfilled. [Footnote 161: See Holland, _Prize Law_, § 19; Hall, § 171; Twiss, II. §§ 162-163; Phillimore, III. § 386; Boeck, Nos. 178-180; Bonfils, Nos. 1344-1349'1; Dupuis, Nos. 117-129, and _Guerre_, Nos. 62-66.] [Footnote 162: See Dupuis, No. 97.] [Footnote 163: The _Vigilantia_ (1798), 1 C. Rob. 1; the _Baltica_ (1857), 11 Moore, P.C. 141; the _Benito Estenger_ (1899), 176 United States, 568.] [Footnote 164: The _General Hamilton_ (1805), 6 C. Rob. 61.] [Footnote 165: The moment a vessel transferred _in transitu_ reaches a port where the new owner takes possession of her, the voyage of the vessel is considered to have terminated. The _Vrow Margaretha_ (1799), 1 C. Rob. 336; the _Jan Frederick_ (1804), 5 C. Rob. 128.] [Footnote 166: The _Sechs Geschwistern_ (1801), 4 C. Rob. 100; the _Jemmy_ (1801), 4 C. Rob. 31.]