Prize court

“ Every prize court in a British possession shall enforce within its jurisdiction all orders and decrees of the High Court and of any other prize court in a British possession in prize causes, and all orders of the Supreme Prize Court constituted under this Act in prize appeals. ”

“ But it is contended that, admitting the general principle, that the exclusive cognizance of prize questions belongs to the capturing power, still the peculiar circumstances of this case constitute an exception, inasmuch as the recapture of the Mount Hope puts it out of the power of the French courts to exercise jurisdiction over the case. ”

“ But the learning and research of counsel have failed to furnish a single case where there was but one claimant of property libeled as prize of war, in which a prize court has undertaken to pass upon the validity of his title as against other persons, or in which its decree has been set up in a subsequent suit as an adjudication of that title as between him and them. ”

“ As incidental to the question of the lawfulness of the capture, prize courts have doubtless jurisdiction to determine the liability of the captors for damages, expenses, and costs occasioned by their own wrongful acts, or by the fault of those in charge of the prize while in their custody. ”

“ No proceedings can be more unlike than those in the Courts of common law and in the admiralty. In prize causes, in an especial manner, the allegations, the proofs and the proceedings are, in general, modelled upon the civil law, with such additions and alterations as the practice of nations and the rights of belligerents and neutrals unavoidably impose. The Court of prize is emphatically a Court of the law of nations ”

“ It establishes nothing more than this; that one ally may, with the assent of the other, establish Prize Courts of his own, within the territory of that other. This is obviously a very different principle, and entirely free from the objections to which the other is liable. It preserves entire, that great and beneficial rule of public law, founded on the most solid reasons of general safety, convenience, and benefit, that questions of prize shall be exclusively reserved to the Courts of the captors' country. ”

“ But that proposition cannot be maintained; and a prize court, when a proper case is made for its interposition, will proceed to adjudicate and condemn the captured property or award restitution, although it is not actually in the control of the court. It may always proceed in rem whenever the prize or proceeds of the prize can be traced to the hands of any person whatever.
As a general rule, it is the duty of the captor to bring it within the jurisdiction of a prize court of the nation to which he belongs, and to institute proceedings to have it condemned. ”

“ In the English maritime jurisprudence the jurisdiction of the admiralty court on the instance side, and the jurisdiction in prize, are entirely distinct and independent of each other. When exercising one, it is called the instance court, and the prize court when exercising the other. ”

“ It is, in this respect, like a case of capture, which, although well made, gives no authority to the prize Court to proceed to adjudication, if it be voluntarily abandoned before judicial proceedings are instituted. ”

“ The claimants in this case are neutrals, subjects of Great Britain, and as such have a persona standi in the prize court to allege, according to the regular procedure of the prize jurisdiction, whatever is pertinent and significant on the question 'of lawful prize of war,' under the law of nations, as bearing upon the sentence of restitution or condemnation to be passed in the cause. ”

“ From the accompanying copy of the Order in Council, which is to be published today, you will observe that a wide discretion is afforded to the prize court in dealing with the trade of neutrals in such manner as may, in the circumstances, be deemed just, and that full provision is made to facilitate claims by persons interested in any goods placed in the custody of the Marshal of the prize court under the order. ”

“ Citizens of the United States, therefore, present themselves to this Court to demand restitution of a prize which they had made in violation of the most solemn stipulations of a treaty, and provisions of a law of their own country, and of which they have been dispossessed by their own associates in guilt. ”

“ International Prize Court is, as a rule, a Court of Appeal, all prize cases must, in the first instance, be decided by a National Prize Court of the captor, although the Municipal Law of the country concerned may provide that a first appeal must likewise be decided by a National Prize Court. The second appeal may never by decided by a National, but must always be decided by the International Prize Court. ”

“ It shall not be lawful for any registrar, marshal, or other officer of the Supreme Prize Court or of any other prize court, directly or indirectly to act or be in any manner concerned as advocate, proctor, solicitor, or agent, or otherwise, in any prize appeal or cause. ”

“ Re-captures are emphatically cases of prize; for the definition of prize goods is, that they are goods taken on the high seas, jure belli, out of the hands of the enemy. When so taken, the captors have an undoubted right to proceed against them as belligerent property in a Court of prize: for in no other way, and in no other Court can the questions presented on a capture jure belli be properly or effectually examined. The very circumstance that it is found in the possession of the enemy, affords prima facie evidence that it is his property. ”

“ But while the property in question was, in general, susceptible of condemnation in prize, it was, nevertheless, taken subject to the exercise of the power of restitution. The right of the government is supreme, and when, in its judgment, the public interest demands it, prizes may be restored, and the courts cannot proceed to condemnation. ”

“ In these circumstances, we conclude that there is no longer any live controversy on the issue whether the statute is constitutional as it applies to prize lists, and that this appeal is moot. There is no justification for our retaining jurisdiction of a civil case where no real controversy is before us. ”

“ But you know the law of this country which says that honors may be conferred upon no one who has not proved worthy to receive them. It is my desire that you attain high rank, but this you cannot reach by remaining at court. You will therefore go out into the world and try to earn, by your own endeavor, the prize promised by the law, and which I shall delight to bestow upon you. ”

“ Although prize-money is, strictly speaking, a matter of bounty and not of right, and no one has any absolute title to it before adjudication, yet, unless the government, acting through the proper department, has clearly manifested an intention to revoke the grant, or to alter the mode of distribution, it is to be awarded and distributed according to the laws in force and the facts existing at the time of the capture. ”

“ The court of chancery will grant a rehearing though the parties have entered into an order by consent to abide the decree, and not to appeal.a If a court of equity will do it, why will not a court of prize, which is still more liberal in its practice, do the same thing? ”

“ So in prize cases, in questions of title to land involving a determination as to the boundaries of States and Territories, foreign or domestic,-questions as completely within the idea of a 'subject-matter political in its nature' as can be conceived,-are of every-day occurrence in the judicial tribunals. ”

“ The rule is, that a libel in prize must allege generally the fact of capture as prize of war, and the libel in the record is in conformity with this rule.
The decree of the District Court must be affirmed. ”

“ But, whatever may have been the reasons on which the general rules of distribution laid down in the prize act were founded, it is enough to say that those rules are fixed and definite, governing all cases coming within their terms, and are the only guides of all courts and officers charged with the duty of administering the prize act. The share of the commander of a ship is the same, whether he is leading in action or lying disabled in his berth ”

“ In the legal sense payment of a prize to a winner of a contest is the discharge of a contractual obligation. The acceptance by the contestants of the offer tendered by the sponsor of the contest creates an enforceable contract. ”

“ In those cases certificates of probable cause are allowed, because it is the duty of the officer to act, and if he proceeds on reasonable grounds he is protected. Cases of prize rest on similar principles ”

“ The prize master delivers the documents and the inventory to prize commissioners, who are appointed by the court, and reports to the district attorney, who files a libel against the prize property and sees "that the proper preparatory evidence is taken by the prize commissioners, and that the prize commissioners also take the depositions de bene esse of the prize crew, and of other transient persons cognizant of any facts bearing on condemnation or distribution." ”

“ The acts of March 3, 1863, chap. 86, § 7, and June 30, 1864, chap. 174, § 13, provided that appeals from the district courts in prize causes should lie directly to this court, where the amount in controversy exceeded $2,000, or 'on the certificate of the district judge that the adjudication involves a question of difficulty and general importance.' 12 Stat. at L. 760; 13 Stat. at L. 310. ”

“ There can be no doubt, that if captors are guilty of gross misconduct, or laches, in violation of their duty, courts of prize will visit upon them the penalty of a forfeiture of the rights of prize, especially where the government chooses to interpose a claim to assert such forfeiture. ”

“ If justice is denied by the prize courts of a belligerent nation, or if its decisions are notoriously contrary to justice, then such a pretext is a just cause of remonstrance and even of war, principle of the locality of prize courts had never been called in question. ”

“ The secretary for signing, and the clerk for writing your commission; the cashier for delivering it, and the messenger for informing you of it, have all their fixed prices. Have you a lawsuit, the judge announces to you that so much has been offered by your opponent, and so much is expected from you, if you desire to win your cause. When you are the defendant against the Crown, the attorney or solicitor-general lets you know that such a douceur is requisite to procure such an issue. Even in criminal proceedings, not only honour, but life, may be saved by pecuniary sacrifices. ”

“ It ought to be shown to the reasonable satisfaction of the jury that the man, after a while, would earn more money than he was then earning. It ought to be shown to your reasonable satisfaction. It is a matter for you to determine. ”

“ The influence of the great prize of the law, the church, and other professions in this country, has often been insisted upon with great reason: it has been said, and truly said, that not only do these prizes reward merit already passed through its probationary stages, but serve as inducements to all who are pursuing the same career. ”

“ In brief the laws of prize distribution enunciated by the great founders of international law of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries appear to be as follows:
1. The state is the only power which can prosecute war and make prize.
2. The right of private reprisal can only be exercised under specific commission from the state.
3. The title to all prizes vests originally in the state.
4. Distribution should be decreed only after [27] adjudication of the prize by a regular tribunal of the state.
5. The method of distributing prize money is determined by municipal law. ”

“ In every action to be brought by virtue of t is act, where the sum demanded shall exceed twently dollars, it shall be lawful for either of the parties to the suit, after issue joined, and before the justice shall proceed to inquire into the merits of the cause, to demand of the said justice that such action be tried by a jury ”

“ We say occasionally, because nine times out of ten one of the parties bids privately for the benefit of his honour's good opinions. Sometimes both suitors do this, and then judgment is knocked down to the highest bidder. The loser departs incontinently cursing the law and its myrmidons to the very top of his bent, and perhaps meditating an appeal to a higher court, from which he is only deterred by prospects of further expense and repeated failure. As to the successful litigant, he would go on his way rejoicing, but that he has a duty to perform before which he is not a free man. ”

“ Congress permitted the states to exercise original jurisdiction in all Continental prize cases, and reserved to itself appellate jurisdiction, so far as it had power to do so.
It is recalled that Congress, on November 25, 1775, having under consideration the report of a committee on Washington’s letter of November 8, determined the kinds of British property which should be subject to capture, fixed the shares of prizes, and established certain forms of procedure in the trial of prize cases. ”

“ Where the award finds facts it is conclusive, where it finds or announces concrete propositions of law, unmixed with facts, its mistake, if one is made, could have been corrected in the court below, and can be corrected here. Where a proposition is one of mixed law and fact, in which the error of law, if there be one, cannot be distinctly shown, the parties must abide by the award. ”