The civil wars of the middle Stuart period precluded a possibility of prize-law development, rather it encouraged piracy and maintained disorder. Parliamentarians and royalists authorized unrestrained privateering against the opposition. During the Stuart exile, Prince Rupert was at the head of an organized system of piracy. The Puritan regime and the restoration period however witnessed a marked advance in the legalizing of maritime methods. The Puritans stood for law and popular control. They did much to crush piracy, required the carriage of letters of marque by privateers and the first act of parliament touching prize distribution appeared at this time. It is to be noted however that while the government claimed prior rights in prizes and demanded legal adjudication; in behalf of a forward naval policy it displayed exceptional generosity to the captors, in its rule of division of proceeds. Not only did all the prize go to the captors but in addition bounty was granted in case of the destruction or capture of armed vessels and medals were awarded for specially meritorious acts. The extreme effort of the Puritans to enforce legality at sea is evidenced by the effort to abolish the old custom of pillage on deck and the great number of prize cases settled in the court of admiralty at this period. During this time Zouche of Oxford published his great work on international law and did much to crystallize legal views on prize matters.[20] The restoration period carried out the same principles in general except that with the restoration of the office of Lord High Admiral the old Droits d'Admiralty were revived. In these periods the humane policy of apportioning a share of the prizes to the sick, wounded and heirs of the slain was instituted, a policy continued in the later practice of maintaining a naval hospital at Greenwich with the proceeds of forfeited shares of prize money.[21] In 1690 the whole privy council was constituted a court of appeal in prize cases.[22] Vice Admiralty courts with prize jurisdiction had been established in the colonies.[23] The colonial governor was usually the Vice Admiral of the colony. The great trading companies were usually granted large rights of reprisal but adjudication was required in the court of admiralty. In 1690 the king received the admiral's share of one tenth in a case involving a prize of 100,000 pounds captured by the East India Company from the great Mogul.[24] The legislation of the seventeenth century gave complete recognition to the Grotian principles of prize distribution and in practice these laws seem to have been applied regularly and consistently by well established legal institutions. _NOTES._ Chapter III, Part 4. [1] Cal. St. Pap. Dom. Jac. I, 1623-1625, p. 476. [2] Cal. St. Pap. Dom. Car. I, 1625-1626, p. 142. [3] Marsdon, English Historical Review, xxv, 253. [4] Henry Scobell, A Collection of Acts and Ordinances, London, 1658, 1649, c 21, p. 9. [5] Ibid. c 21, p. 9.