Capture at sea; Contraband of war; Privateering; Prize law; Prizes (Property captured at sea)
[4] Sir Leoline Jenkins, Life of, by Wynne, ii, 770; quoted in
Atherley-Jones, op. cit. p. 619.
[5] Lucas 79, quoted in Atherley-Jones, op. cit. p. 619.
[6] Lindo vs. Rodney, 2 Doug. 612; 99 Eng. Rep. 385; see also
Atherley-Jones, op. cit. p. 619.
[7] The Santa Cruz, 1 C. Rob. 497, quoted in Atherley-Jones, op. cit.
p. 622.
[8] Phillimore, op. cit. iii, 638.
[9] 27 and 28 Vict., c 25, s 40, 1864.
PART 5. PRIZE MONEY.
Whenever a vessel or cargo is adjudged good prize by the court it is
publicly sold and the proceeds are decreed to the captors as prize
money, unless they are non-commissioned or forfeit it by failure to
observe the regulations imposed upon them for the conduct and safe
keeping of the prize.[1] In England the proceeds of all vessels and
cargoes, whether of a purely mercantile or of a military character
are divided as prize money, though the government reserves the right
of preemption on naval and victualling stores.[2] The rules which
govern the prize court in adjudging a captured vessel good prize or
not are beyond the scope of this paper. In general all enemy vessels
are condemned, and neutral vessels are condemned for breach of
blockade, carriage of contraband or unneutral service. These matters
are at present largely covered by the Hague conventions of 1907 and
the Declaration of London of 1909.[3] However as previously noted the
crown reserves the right to free any vessel even though its capture
was perfectly legal and it was of a class that would ordinarily be
adjudged good prize.[4]
In the distribution of prize money there must be decided, first,
what vessels are to share in the prize; second, what proportion each
vessel is to get, and third, what proportion of the vessels share
each officer and man on board is to receive.
The second and third points are settled by the prize proclamation
which decrees division among the officers and men of all the
vessels sharing according to the grade they occupy. There is no
division among the vessels but all men entitled to share are grouped
together in eleven grades, each one of which receives a fixed
proportion of the prize money. This portion is then divided equally
among all the men of that grade, no matter on what vessel they
served. Thus a sailor on a vessel constructively assisting receives
exactly the same share as a sailor of the same grade on the vessel
making the actual capture.[5]
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