Prize Courts are, at present, Courts of enquiry, to which a belligerent Government entrusts the duty of ascertaining whether the captures made by its officers have been properly made, according to the views of international law entertained by that Government. There exists, no doubt, among Continental jurists, a considerable body of opinion in favour of giving to Courts of Appeal, at any rate, in prize cases a wholly different character. This opinion found its expression in Arts. 100-109 of the _Code des Prises maritimes_, finally adopted at its Heidelberg meeting, in 1887, by the Institut de Droit International. Art. 100 runs as follows:-- "Au début de chaque guerre, chacune des parties belligérantes constitue un tribunal international d'appel en matière de prises maritimes. Chacun de ces tribunaux est composé de cinq membres, designés comme suit: L'état belligérant nommera lui-même le président et un des membres. Il désignera en outre trois états neutres, qui choisiront chacun un des trois autres membres." In the abstract, and supposing that a tribunal perfectly satisfactory both to belligerents and neutrals could be constituted, whether antecedently or _ad hoc_, there might be much to be said for the proposal; subject, however, to one condition--viz. that an agreement had been previously arrived at as to the law which the Court is to apply. At the present time there exists, on many vital questions of prize law, no such agreement. It will be sufficient to mention those relating to the list of contraband, the distinction between "absolute" and "conditional" contraband, the doctrine of "continuous voyages," the right of sinking a neutral prize, the moment from which a vessel becomes liable for breach of blockade.