duty on the fleet under command of Admiral D. G. Farragut, while the said fleet was engaged in the action in Mobile Bay on the fifth day of August, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty four, from any money not otherwise appropriated, such sum or sums as prize money, to each of them, respectively, as will be equal to what has been allowed in distribution to officers or sailors of the Navy of corresponding rank, the same as if their names had been, in any case, borne on the ship's books. Approved, February 18, 1867.

cepted in settle

the United States

and the sureties

[15 Stat. L., p. 120.]

AN ACT To facilitate the settlement of certain prize cases in the southern district of Florida.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assem$50,000 to be ac- bled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby ment of claims of authorized and directed, upon the execution and delivagainst the estate ery to him by the administratrix of the estate of James of James C.Clapp, C. Clapp, deceased, late United States marshal for the on his bond, after southern district of Florida, of a proper written release release, &c.; of all claims and demands for, or on account of, all costs, charges, fees, and expenses due, or claimed to be due, the said Clapp as marshal aforesaid, or to his estate, in any prize or other cases in said district, to accept from said administratrix the sum of fifty thousand dollars in full satisfaction of all claims and demands of the United States against the estate of the said James C. Clapp, and against the sureties in said Clapp's official bond, and that said sum of fifty thousand dollars when paid, together with the sums now on deposit with the assistant treasurer in New York to the credit of the said Clapp and to the credit of the United States district court for the southern district of Florida, shall be deposited with the assistant United States treasurer at Washington, District of CoTo be with lumbia, subject to the order of the United States district posited with as- court for the southern district of Florida, for the purat Washington to pose of meeting decrees of distribution or restitution in distribution in the following prize causes pending in said district: certain prize Schooner Lucy No. 1, the cargo of the steamer Adela, schooner Alicia and cargo, schooner Isabel and cargo, the Names of steamer James Battle, schooner Diana and cargo, schooner Sea Lion and cargo, the cargo of the steamer Nita, steamer Pearl and cargo, schooner Teresa No. 2, steamer Union, steamer Victor and cargo, and schooner John Williams.

other sums de

sistant treasurer

meet decrees of

causes.

causes.

Navy to deposit

Secretary of SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary appraised value of the Navy is hereby authorized and directed to deposit steamers taken with the assistant United States treasurer at Washinginto naval serv- ton, District of Columbia, the appraised values of the

of certain prize

ice.

to be distributed.

prize steamers Adela and Nita, condemned in said district court, and taken into the naval service, and, after deducting all proper charges and expenses, a moiety of the same shall be distributed under the decree of the said Amounts, how district court, according to law, among the captors entitled to share in said prizes, the steamers Adela and Nita respectively, and the remaining moiety of the same shall be subject to the order of the said district court, as hereinafter provided.

Sufficient fund

crees.

etc., to be dis

captors.

among

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That of the moneys to be retained to mentioned in the first section of this act, when deposited await final deas herein provided, there shall be retained by the said district court a sufficient fund to await final decrees in those of the cases enumerated in the first section of this act, wherein appeals have been taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, and that the balance of said Balance, with, moneys, together with one-half of the appraised values tributed of the prize steamers Adela and Nita, mentioned in the second section of this act, shall be distributed as prize money among the captors in those of the cases enumerated in the first section of this act, in which final decrees of condemnation have been entered and which are ready for distribution, without reference to the interest of the United States in any and all of the said cases, which said interest of the United States in each of the said cases, and the proceeds for distribution therein, as well as the interest of the United States in the appraised value of the prize steamers Adela and Nita, is hereby relin- Interest of the quished for distribution to the captors in those of the linquished. cases enumerated and mentioned in the first section of this act wherein decrees of condemnation have been or shall be entered, and for payment to the claimants in those of said cases wherein final decrees of restitution have been or may be passed; and that in each of said cases wherein final decrees of condemnation and distribution have been or shall be entered, the sum to be paid into the Treasury of the United States for distribution to the captors shall be one-half of the gross proceeds of sale in said cases, less the costs taxed and allowed by the court: Provided, That any sum or sums remaining after execution of all decrees of distribution and restitution as hereinbefore ury in each case. provided, be paid into the Treasury of the United States Certain sums to to the credit of the navy pension fund: And provided be paid to the further, That nothing herein contained shall be deemed pension fund. an admission on the part of the United States of any United States liability for the defalcation of the said Clapp as marshal not liable for aforesaid.

Approved, July 20, 1868.

United States re

What sum to be paid into Treas

Clapp's defalca

tion.

in the Mississippi

titled to the bene

laws.

[15 Stat. L., p. 336.]

AN ACT Relating to captures made by Admiral Farragut's fleet in the Mississippi River in May (1862), eighteen hundred and sixtyeight [two].

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assemVessels belong, bled, That the vessels attached to or connected with Ading to Admiral Farragut's fleet miral Farragut's fleet in the river Mississippi which parRiver, in May, ticipated in the opening of that river and which resulted 1862, to be en- in the capture of New Orleans in the month of May, fits of the prize eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and which by law would have been entitled to prize money in the captures made by said vessels, shall be now entitled to the benefits of the What courts to prize laws in the same manner as they would have been had the district court for the eastern district of Louisiana been then open and the captures made by said vessels had been libelled therein; and any court of the United States having admiralty jurisdiction may take and have cognizance of all cases arising out of said captures, and the same proceedings shall be had therein as in other cases of prize.

have jurisdiction.

Shares awarded to be paid out of

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the shares in the Treasury of such captures awarded to the officers and men entitled to the United States. prize shall be paid out of the Treasury of the United

States.

Approved, March 3, 1869.

Appeals in prize cases; amendments, etc.

[17 Stat. L., p. 556.]

[Extract from an act making appropriations for the naval service for the year ending June 30, 1874, and for other purposes.]

SEC. 2. That the Supreme Court may, if, in its judgment, the purposes of justice require it, allow any amendment, either in form or substance, of any appeal in prize cases, or allow a prize appeal therein, if it appears that any notice of appeal or of intention to appeal was filed with the clerk of the district court within thirty days next after the rendition of the final decree therein. Approved, March 2, 1873.

of prize lists.

to

[18 Stat. L., p. 63.]

AN ACT Authorizing corrections to be made in errors of prize lists.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembe made in errors bled, That the second and third paragraphs of the tenth section of the navy-prize law, approved June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, which relate to the shares of commanders of divisions and fleet captains, shall apply to officers serving in those positions from April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one (the commence

ment of the late war), and the shares shall be paid in the manner as provided for division commanders in said second paragraph, said payments to be made out of the naval pension fund; and all acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Approved, June 8, 1874.

PRIZE MONEY AS CONSTRUED BY THE COURTS.

Property captured on land by the officers and crews of a naval force of the United States is not "maritime prize;" even though, like cotton, it may have been a proper subject of capture generally, as an element of strength to the enemy. (Mrs. Alexander's Cotton, 2d Wallace, p. 404.)

The right of vessels of the Navy of the United States to prize money comes only in virtue of grant r permission from the United States, and if no act of Congress sanctions a claim to it, it does not exist. No such act gives prize to the Navy in cases of joint capture by the Army and Navy. In cases of such capture, the capture inures exclusively to the benefit of the United States. (The Siren, 13th Wallace, p. 389.)

I. JURISDICTION IN PRIZE CASES.

1. The district courts, sitting as courts of prize, may hear and determine all questions respecting claims arising after the capture of the vessel. (The Siren, 7 Wall., 152.)

2. Captures, jure belli, upon the interior waters of the Mississippi may be within the jurisdiction of a prize court. (United States v. Bales of Cotton, 1 Wool., 236.)

3. Prize courts have not jurisdiction of captures, jure belli, on land, by land forces only. (Ibid.)

4. Where prize courts take jurisdiction of captures by combined land and naval forces, it must appear that the naval force contributed directly to the capture. (Ibid.)

5. Where a court of prize allows a claim for weighing or gauging the cargo of a condemned vessel, and directs it to be paid out of the fund for defraying the expenses of suits in which the United States is a party, or interested, this is a judicial determination of the validity and justice of the claim, which can not be questioned in another tribunal, and (the proceeds of the prizes having been paid into the Treasury and distributed according to law) the order is conclusive, without any reference to the Court of Claims. (Root v. United States, 5 N. & H., 408.)

II. WHAT IS LAWFUL PRIZE?

6. An American vessel carrying dispatches to the enemy in time of war is lawful prize. (The Tulip, Fish. Pr. Cas., 3 S. Č.; 3 W. C. C., 181.)

7. Enemy's property, found derelict at sea, is lawful prize. (Seventy-eight Bales of Cotton, 1 Low. Dec., 11.)

8. Under what circumstances a sum of money, the private property of the master of a neutral, captured for a breach of blockade, will be condemned as prize of war. (The Wando, 1 Low. Dec., 18.)

9. A bona fide purchase, for a commercial purpose, by a neutral, in his own home port, of a sloop of war of a belligerent that had taken refuge in such port in order to escape from enemy vessels in pursuit, though she were in good faith dismantled prior to the sale and afterwards fitted up for the merchant service, does not exempt her from capture by the other belligerent. (The Georgia, 7 Wall., 32.)

10. The seizure of enemy's property on land, as prize of war, jure belli, is not authorized by the law of nations, and can only be upheld by a positive statute. (United States v. Shares of Capital Stock of the Great Western Railroad Co., 5 Bl., C. C., 231.)

11. A capture made within the State of North Carolina, on the Roanoke River, 130 miles from its mouth, by a naval force detached from two steamers that had been compelled by the crookedness of the stream and apprehensions of low water to anchor at a distance of 30 to 50 miles below, is a capture upon "inland waters," and not therefore regarded as maritime prize. (The Cotton Plant, 10 Wall., 577.) 12. A joint capture by the Army and Navy is not prize of war, but inures exclusively to the benefit of the Government. (The Siren, 13 Wall., 389; S. C. 1 Low. Dec., 280.)

13. A vessel captured on the surrender of an enemy's city and harbor to the joint naval and military forces is not prize of war, which goes to the captors. (The Siren, i Low. Dec., 280.)

III. RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES OF THE CAPTORS.

14. A capture as prize of war, jure belli, overrides all prior liens. (The Battle, 6 Wall., 498.)

15. There can be no valid condemnation as prize of war, except to the Government; but the captor may use the name of the sovereign for the protection of his interests. (Farragut v. The Metropolis, 3 Am. L. T. Rep., 48.)

IV. EVIDENCE.

16. Courts of prize are not bound by common law rules of evidence, nor even by those which prevail on the instance side of the admiralty. (The Tulip, Fish. Pr. Cas., 16.)

17. Evidence to acquit or condemn must come, in the first instance, from the papers and crew of the captured vessel; leave for further proof is only granted in cases of honest mistake or ignorance, or to clear doubts or remedy defects; and the application must be supported by evidence of probable cause and good faith. (The Lilla, 2 Cliff., 169; S. C. 2 Spr., 177.)

18. What is sufficient evidence, that a captured vessel is enemy's property? (The Wren, 6 Wall., 582.)

19. On appeal, a case will be heard on further proofs, though the record disclose no order therefor; it being evident, either that there was such order, or that the proofs were taken by consent. (The Georgia, 7 Wall., 32.)