INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
the judgments delivered, both by the Judges in Prize 
and by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 
which is the supreme appellate tribunal for the British 
Empire in matters of Prize, will, both for learning and 
for clarity of exposition, not unfavourably challenge 
comparison with those classical pronouncements on the 
Law of Nations on which the fame of Lord Stowell is 
securely based. A careful survey of the decisions of 
the British Prize Courts, such as Dr. Colombos has made, 
will prove that they are worthy of the great traditions 
of these tribunals. 
No history of the Great War of 1914-18 is complete, 
nor can the operations of the belligerents be fully under- 
stood without a knowledge of the part played by the 
naval forces of the combatants in their war on commerce. 
This aspect of the War is of vital importance to the 
members of the British Empire; and a study of the 
decisions of our Prize Courts will show that the effects 
of sea power in that war were similar to those in former 
wars by enabling the Power having the maritime 
predominance to prohibit the transportation of supplies 
for his enemy, and thus to undermine his commercial 
prosperity. Naval war on commerce, whether directed 
against enemy property or against neutral vessels 
engaged in assisting the enemy by carrying contraband, 
attempting to break blockade, or performing acts of 
unneutral service, is regulated by law. It is with this 
law, and with the Courts which administer it, that this 
book is concerned. 
The work of the English Prize Court attracted 
singularly little attention from the general public during 
the late war. The greater number of decisions were 
unreported in the public Press. Many of them were,