Prize distribution in Great Britain at present is authorized by two permanent acts passed in 1864. The first of these acts known as the "Naval agency and distribution act of 1864"[1] provides that all salvage, bounty and prize money be distributed according to proclamation or order in council and that the shares in which such distribution shall occur be determined in the same manner. Pursuant to this act a proclamation was issued August 3, 1886[2] providing that the whole of prizes legally adjudicated be for the benefit of officers and seamen making the capture and that the flag officers receive one-thirtieth of the proceeds and the captain one-tenth. The remainder is to be divided equally among eleven grades of officers and seamen. This rule has been superseded by an Order in Council of September 17, 1900[3] shortly after the outbreak of the South African war. It provides that only ships within sight so as to cause intimidation of the enemy are to share in prize money as joint captors. All bounty, salvage and prize money received for any action are to be in general divided in the same manner. The flag officer is to receive one-thirtieth of the prize but no share of bounty, unless actually present at the capture. The captain in actual command receives one-tenth. The remainder is divided among eleven grades of officers and men as before. The other act now in force regulating prize matter is the "Naval Prize Act of 1864".[4] It provides for prize courts and prescribes their procedure, these matters however have been amended by "the prize courts act of 1894".[5] In joint captures by land and naval forces prize courts have jurisdiction. In cases of the infraction of municipal or international law all proceeds of the prize go to the government, notwithstanding any grant that may have been made to the captors. Ships taken as prize by any ship other than a regular ship of war enure solely to the government. This provision effectually abolishes privateering. Recaptured ships are to be returned to the original owner if an English subject on payment of from one-eighth to one-fourth salvage unless they have been fitted out by the enemy as ships of war when they will be considered good prize. If prize bounty is granted in any war by proclamation the officers and crew actually present at the taking or destroying of any armed ship of the enemy are entitled to bounty calculated at the rate of five pounds for each person on board the enemy's ship at the beginning of the engagement. The saving clause of the act states that "nothing in this act shall give to the officers and crew of any of her majesty's ships of war any right or claim in or to any ship or goods taken as prize or the proceeds thereof, it being the intent of this act that such officers and crews shall consent to take only such interest (if any) in the proceeds of prizes as may be from time to time granted to them by the crown." The principle that original title to all prize vests in the