INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. xvii 
messages. Dr. Colombos shows very clearly how imprac- 
ticable the old procedure had become under the changed 
conditions of modern commerce. The alteration of 
practice had the effect sometimes, as in the case of 
greatly increased imports of commodities to a neutral 
country adjacent to a belligerent, of shifting the burden 
of proof of innocence to the claimant. Dr. Colombos 
gives examples of such statistical cases, in which it was 
impossible for the Court to refuse to draw inferences as to 
enemy destination, and the claimant was left to rebut the 
presumption ; but, where the transaction was an innocent 
one, a neutral claimant who made complete disclosure 
was assured of justice. The decisions of other maritime 
States on these points conform in the main to those of 
the British Prize Courts. 
The fact that Prize Courts in many countries are 
bound by the orders and legislative enactments of the 
authority under which they sit, and are consequently 
not at liberty to apply rules of International Law where 
these are in conflict with the municipal instructions, has 
led Dr. Colombos to conclude his work with a chapter 
on ‘“ An International Prize Court.” ® On general prin- 
ciples it must appear that an international tribunal is the 
only one which can with independence and impartiality 
apply the rules of International Law, and the arguments 
by which he supports his plea for the establishment of 
an International Prize Court are weighty. He is of 
opinion that the record of cases in the Prize Courts of 
the belligerents reveals the fact that the number of open 
questions is not now so great as to render an agreement 
on the main rules of International Law in time of war 
impossible. While admitting the eminently impartial 
® Bee post, p. 330.