CHAPTER XIII
CONTRABAND OF WAR
(GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Sec. 384. Importance During the World War. Questions
involving contraband of war were the subject of a larger number
of decisions by the Prize Courts during the late war than any
other. The decisions run well into the hundreds and they deal
with every conceivable aspect of the subject. On account of the
pressing need for foodstuffs and other supplies from abroad
which all the belligerent countries experienced and the high
prices which they commanded, the traffic in contraband reached
an extensive scale. In order to prevent their enemies from ob-
taining such supplies each belligerent adopted rigorous measures
of repression, sometimes In contravention of the traditional
views and practice which it had hitherto maintained and fol-
lowed. Due to the fact that Germany, the principal belligerent
on one side, was partially flanked by a group of neutral States,
some of which possessed seaboards through whose ports, had
they not been intercepted by exceptional measures, supplies could
have been freely obtained, the problem of dealing with contra-
band raised serious difficulties for England and France and
caused them to resort to measures which neutrals considered to
be a grave infringement of their rights. The problem was further
complicated by the existence of an unprecedented situation in
which it was practically impossible to distinguish between sup-
plies intended for the civilian population of the enemy country
and those intended for the armed forces, and this situation was
intensified by the establishment of a system of government con-
trol, especially in Germany, of the distribution of foodstuffs and
other supplies. The situation was still further complicated by
the fact that during the late war it was found that many articles
hitherto unadapted to military uses and not therefore treated as
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