With the outbreak of the war of the Spanish succession the statutory method of providing for prize distribution was established. By a statute of 1707[3] the sole property in all prizes was granted to the officers and seamen of queen's ships and the officers, seamen and owners of privateers, the capture being first adjudged good prize in a court of admiralty. The act also provided for the payment of head money or bounty to the amount of five pounds per man on board every war ship or privateer of the enemy, sunk or destroyed. The act was to continue only for that war. Orders in council issued on authority of the act provided details for the conduct of prize courts and the division of prize money and bounty among the captors. In reference to this act and the previous history of prize money in England, Lord Loughborough said in 1789,[4] "Before the sixth year of the reign of Queen Anne there were no laws made on the subject. Previous to that time all prizes taken in war were of right vested in the crown and questions concerning the property of such prizes were not the subject of discussion in courts of law. But in order to do justice to claimants from the first year after the restoration of Charles II, special commissions were issued to enable courts of Admiralty to condemn such captures as appeared to be lawful prizes,[5] to give relief where there was no color for the taking and generally to make satisfaction to parties injured. But in the sixth year of Queen Anne it was thought proper for the encouragement of seamen to vest in them the prizes they should take and for that purpose the statutes of 6 Anne c 13 and c 37 were passed." From the foregoing discussion it appears that the learned judge failed to note the statute 4-5 Wm. and Mary c 25 passed in 1692 not to mention the commonwealth statutes of 1648 and 1649. It also seems clear that admiralty courts exercised jurisdiction over prize matters long before the restoration of Charles II. Queen Anne's act of 1707 is typical of those which have been passed at the beginning of every subsequent war in English history until the passage of the permanent prize act of 1864.[6] Since that time the principle of giving the total proceeds of prize to the captors has been adhered to although the principle that the initial title to all captures vests in the crown has been maintained with equal consistency.