prize

prize, in law, a vessel, aircraft, or goods acquired through capture by a belligerent state, which is subject to condemnation by a prize court.

“Capture” and “prize” are not synonymous terms, and a legal determination that the captured property is good prize, within the accepted definition, is necessary before the captor may exercise any beneficial rights in it. A decree of condemnation declares the prize to be the property of the capturing sovereign and may be accompanied by an order for sale, purchase under which gives an internationally valid title. In the 18th century title to a prize sometimes changed simply by virtue of the capture, but by the modern usage of nations a judicial inquiry must pass upon the case. Within certain undefined limits the nature of the legal process and the definition of condemnable vessels and goods are left by international law to national choice.

Enemy vessels, enemy goods in enemy or in neutral vessels, neutral goods which are contraband, and neutral vessels which have been captured in the act of running a legal blockade or rendering unneutral service are subject to condemnation. Enemy warships or other public ships are liable to condemnation, but they are seldom the subjects of actual adjudications. During a war enemy states do not appear as claimants before the prize court, and after a war rights and liabilities resulting from captures are usually settled as part of the general peace settlement. The enemy character of vessels and goods is determined by the nationality or the domicile of the owner, and evidence both intrinsic and extrinsic to the vessels and its papers may be introduced. Aircraft have been added, by statute, to the subjects of prize law. These statutes provide for the application of the law of prize even when the aircraft is captured on or over land. For England the term “vessels” includes merchantmen, lighters, rafts, tugs, boats, and all other naval craft together with their appointments. For the United States, however, nonseagoing vessels, such as barges propelled by sweeps or by poling, and boats having no means of propulsion are not regarded as maritime prize.

Individuals having some connection with the capture of a prize may share in its value only if the captor state so provides. In the past, prize money or “bounty” has been paid, partly as a reward for bravery and as a stimulus to exertion and partly as a compensation for the poor rates of pay prevailing in naval services. However, prize bounty was abolished in the United States in 1899 and in England in 1948.