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CHAPTER 11.
JURISDICTION OF PRIZE COURTS.
The question § 28. As laid down in the leading case of Le
Wi a nt (aux v. Eden,* the question * prize or not prize *’
eT and the consequences thereof are cognisable solely
Admiralty in the Admiralty Courts. The jurisdiction of the
Courts. 4
Courts of common law is expressly excluded. The
same principle was affirmed by Dr. Lushington in
The Elize,? that no other Court whatsoever within
the United Kingdom, except the High Court of
Admiralty, was entitled to exercise any jurisdiction
at all in prize matters.
Prize is altogether a creature of the Crown,®
and the right of the Crown consists in seizing and
bringing to adjudication all enemy ships and all
goods taken on the high seas jure belli out of the
hands of the enemy.* This is the definition given
by Lord Stowell, but it is essential to remember
that prize jurisdiction is not confined to seizures
of enemy property on the high seas. The juris-
diction extends to all maritime captures wherever
effected,® and to property belonging not only to
enemies, but also to neutrals and even to British
; 1 (1781), 2 Dougl. 594, 602 (per Buller, J.), and Tord Mansfield
in Lindo v. Rodney (1782), ibid., 613, 614.
2 (1854), Spinks, 88, 97; and Tord Merrivale in The Oranje
Nassau [1921] 3 B & C. P. C. 915. Cf. The Sommelsdijk, [1925]
23 Ll. L: R. 119, 120 (C. A.).
3 The Elsebe (1804), 5 C. Rob. 174, 182.
4 The Two Friends (1799), 1 ibid., 271, 283.
5 Key and Hubbard v. Pearse, (1742), (per Lee, C.J.), reported
in Le Caux v. Eden, supra, at p. 608.
