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 
510