(e) Notice of a blockade shall not be valid unless it shall state the geographical limits thereof, and they shall be in accordance with the provisions set out in § (a). 10. By "capture" is meant "the taking of effective possession." No capture from an enemy shall confer a lawful title on the capturing belligerent in such manner as to make the captured ship the absolute property of the capturing belligerent until after he shall have retained possession of the said ship during twenty-four consecutive hours. Any call at a neutral port or in neutral waters before expiry of the said twenty-four hours shall interrupt the operation of this rule, and the twenty-four hours shall only begin to run from the time at which it shall leave such port or waters. 1 This was the pretty general practice in the seventeenth century. The modern tendency to generalise the principle of "effective possession," and prevent finality being given t laims out of proportion to the act on which they are based, such as employing some ruse or rushing a capture into a neutral port and keeping it there till adjudication, seems to justfiy its revival. 10. SUGGESTED CONVENTION FOR ESTABLISHING A UNIFORM PRACTICE IN The H.C.P. etc. etc. Whereas there is much difference of opinion among international jurists and States as to what may rightfully be declared by belligerents to be contraband of war, some authorities denying the existence of conditional contraband, others claiming to include among absolute contraband certain articles usually classed as conditional contraband, some States making no distinction between the penalties attaching to carriage of absolute and those attaching to carriage of conditional contraband, others enforcing the right of confiscation against the one only and merely a right of pre-emption, subject to circumstances, against the other, a distinction favoured by many international jurists belonging to nations which apply the more rigorous practice; And whereas it is highly desirable in the interest of neutral trade that the nature of contraband and of the penalties attaching to carriage of it and of belligerent rights in regard to pre-emption should be strictly defined ; And it is also desirable to define the nature of the belligerent right where the immediate destination may be a neutral, but the ultimate destination an enemy, port: The H.C.P. agree, as between and among them, to apply in regard to contraband the following rules: 1. Are contraband of war:—(1) arms of all kinds; (2) ammunition and explosives; (3) military equipments of all kinds, except ambulance waggons and other appliances and things, under the protection of the Geneva Convention (Ch. 4 of the revised Convention of July 6, 1906) and of the Convention for adapting the principles thereof to maritime warfare (July 29, 1899, Art. I.); (4) vessels equipped for war; (5) machinery for the manufacture of ammunition, and all other articles or things employed solely for war when conveyed by sea on account of or destined for a belligerent. Under the heading ammunition are comprised articles which. by being mixed or put together can be made available for war. 2. Destination for the enemy shall be conclusive when the carrying is to an enemy port. If the documents or circumstances warrant suspicion of an ultimate enemy destination though the immediate destination be neutral, the presumption shall be against the ship. 3. Conditional contraband is abolished. Henceforth, therefore, no article can be treated as contraband simply because it might be useful to the enemy or be utilised by him, or because it is destined for the service of the enemy. 4. Nevertheless, the belligerent, at his option, has the right to purchase any cargo in whole or in part, destined to an enemy port or to a neutral port which may reasonably be regarded as a stage to an ultimate enemy destination, consisting of the following: (a) foodstuffs of all kinds, (b) coal, (c) clothing materials for the use of men, (d) raw cotton. The purchase shall be made at the invoice value plus freight and all charges and 10% for loss of profit. The master of the neutral vessel may, in the alternative, with the consent of the belligerent commander, enter into a bond. that he will alter the destination of his ship to a specified port which cannot be reasonably suspected of covering an enemy. destination, and in this case the belligerent commander shall have no further right of purchase. Violation of this bond shall expose the neutral vessel to all the penalties of carrying contraband of war throughout the duration of the war. 5. Neutral vessels continue liable to visit and search by belligerent vessels, subject to such provisions as shall be made to attenuate its vigour in certain cases.1 6. The penalties of carrying contraband of war, namely, liability to capture and condemnation in a Prize Court, shall continue as heretofore. 7. The Declaration of Paris (1856) in so far as affected by the above articles is superseded. 8. Any claim arising out of the application of this Convention, including any claim as to insufficiency of the indemnity under Art. 2 for loss of profit, shall be referred to the Joint Commission provided for under a general Neutrality Convention.2 1 See p. 163 2 See p. 367. |