(7) A violation of these rules involves responsibility on the part of the guilty State. The State which has laid the mines is presumed to be guilty unless the contrary is proved, and an action may be brought against the guilty State, even by individuals who have suffered damage, before the competent International Tribunal. [Footnote 362: See _Annuaire_, XXIV. (1911), p. 301.] [Sidenote: Duty of giving Quarter.] § 183. As soon as an attacked or counter-attacked vessel hauls down her flag and, therefore, signals that she is ready to surrender, she must be given quarter and seized without further firing. To continue an attack although she is ready to surrender, and to sink her and her crew, would constitute a violation of customary International Law, and would only as an exception be admissible in case of imperative necessity or of reprisals. [Sidenote: Seizure.] § 184. Seizure is effected by securing possession of the vessel through the captor sending an officer and some of his own crew on board the captured vessel. But if for any reason this is impracticable, the captor orders the captured vessel to lower her flag and to steer according to his orders. [Sidenote: Effect of Seizure.] § 185. The effect of seizure is different with regard to private enemy vessels, on the one hand, and, on the other, to public vessels. Seizure of _private_ enemy vessels may be described as a parallel to occupation of enemy territory in land warfare. Since the vessel and the individuals and goods thereon are actually placed under the captor's authority, her officers and crew, and any private individuals on board, are for the time being submitted to the discipline of the captor, just as private individuals on occupied enemy territory are submitted to the authority of the occupant.[363] Seizure of private enemy vessels does not, however, vest the property finally in the hands of the belligerent[364] whose forces effected the capture. The prize has to be brought before a Prize Court, and it is the latter's confirmation of the capture through adjudication of the prize which makes the appropriation by the capturing belligerent final.[365] [Footnote 363: Concerning the ultimate fate of the crew, see above, § 85.] [Footnote 364: It is asserted that a captured enemy merchantman may at once be converted by the captor into a man-of-war, but the cases of the _Ceylon_ (1811) and the _Georgina_ (1814), 1 Dodson 105 and 397, which are quoted in favour of such a practice, are not decisive. See Higgins, _War and the Private Citizen_ (1912), pp. 138-142.] [Footnote 365: See below, § 192.]