Prize Court - Definition - Law Dictionary

Definition :

Prize Court. This is an international tribunal, existing only by virtue of a special commission under the Great Seal, during war or until the litigations incident to war have been brought to a conclusion. It is frequently confounded with the Court of Admiralty, in consequence, perhaps, of the same judge having usually presided in both courts; but this is a mistake, for the whole system of litigation and jurisprudence in the prize Court, though exceedingly important, is peculiar to itself, and is governed by rules not applying to the Instance Court of the Admiralty (now part of the High Court), which is a mere civil tribunal.

The old Court of Admiralty had in fact from very ancient times two separate and distinct jurisdictions--the Instance Jurisdiction and the Prize Jurisdiction, though the real origin of the latter is wrapped in obscurity. When the High Court of Admiralty became merged in the High Court of Justice, (English) Jud. Act, 1925, s. 23, replacing the (English) Jud. Act, 1891, s. 4, provided that the High Court should be a Prize Court within the meaning of the (English) Naval Prize Acts, 1864 to 1916, as amended by any subsequent enactment, and should have all such jurisdiction on the high seas and throughout His Majesty's dominions and in every place where His Majesty has jurisdiction as under any Act relating to naval prize or otherwise the High Court of Admiralty possessed when acting as a Prize Court. but see ss. 1, 6 and 10 of the Statute of Westminster, 1931. Subject to rules of Court all jurisdiction as a Prize Court is assigned to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court [Jud. Act, 1925, s. 56 (3)]. The procedure and practice in the Prize Court are regulated by the (English) Prize Court Rules, 1914, made under (English) Prize Court (Procedure) Act, 1914, which repealed those sections of the Naval Prize Act, 1864, which dealt with the practice and procedure of Prize Courts; and see the (English) Naval Prize (Procedure) Act, 1916. The (English) Act of 1914 excepted ships of war. See also the (English) Prize Courts Acts, 1894 and 1915, and as to Vice-Admiralty Courts, in the Colonies, the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890.

The law administered in the Prize Court is 'the course of Admiralty and the law of nations,' the questions arising being those relating to captures, prize, and booty (being prize on shore). There is an appeal from this Court to the Privy Council.

It is sometimes supposed that if, when a prize has been captured, she is condemned, the prize belongs to the captors, but this is not quite accurate. It is true that under the old practice the captors applied for a condemnation of the ship, but if a decree of condemnation was made it decreed a good and lawful prize to the Crown, and it was by a subsequent Act of the Royal Judgment and Discretion that the proceeds of the prize might be distributed among the captors. At the present day the conditions of naval warfare have become so altered that though the old principle that if a prize is taken and condemned it is condemned to the Crown is still maintained, the distribution of the proceeds exclusively among the actual captors has been modified and some share of the proceeds will go to the men who, though rendering services of incalculable value, have had no opportunity of actually capturing enemy ships.

See, generally, the speech of Sir John Simon, A.-G., at the first sitting of the Prize Court on September, 4, 1914, Times, 5th September, 1914; Chile, 1914, P. 212; Berlin, ib. 265; Kim, 1915, P. 215; Roumanian, 1916 AC 124.