the sufferers may obtain due reparation from their own state on the conclusion of peace. In naval warfare "requisitions for provisions or supplies for the immediate use of the naval force before the place in question" 1 are allowed. Such requisitions may be enforced by bombardment if necessary. Contributions, however, cannot be exacted unless after actual and complete belligerent occupation, as by land forces. Contributions in the form of ransom to escape bombardment cannot be levied, as in such cases occupation is not a fact.2 (d) Foraging is resorted to in cases where lack of time makes it inconvenient to obtain supplies by the usual process of requisition, and consists in the actual taking of provisions for men and animals by the troops themselves. (e) Booty commonly applies to military supplies seized from the enemy. In a more general sense it applies to all property of the enemy which is susceptible of appropriation. Such property passes to the state of the captor, and its disposition should be determined by that state. 107. VESSELS. OUTLINE OF CHAPTER XIX STATUS OF PROPERTY AT SEA (a) Status of public vessels of a belligerent. 108. GOODS. 109. SUBMARINE AND WIRELESS TELEGRAPH. (a) Treatment of submarine telegraphic cables in time of war. (b) Treatment of wireless telegraph in time of war. CHAPTER XIX STATUS OF PROPERTY AT SEA 107. Vessels Vessels may be classed as public, belonging to the state, and private, belonging to citizens of the state. (a) Public vessels of a belligerent are liable to capture in any port or sea except in territorial waters of a neutral. The following public vessels are, however, exempt from capture unless they per Status of public vessels of a belligerent. form some hostile act: (1) Cartel ships commissioned for the exchange of prisoners. (2) Vessels engaged exclusively in non-hostile scientific work and in exploration.1 (3) Hospital ships, properly designated and engaged exclusively in the care of the sick and wounded.2 Status of pri (b) Private vessels of the enemy are liable to capture in any port or sea except in territorial waters of vate vessels of a neutral. The following private vessels when a belligerent. innocently employed are, however, exempt from capture: (1) Cartel ships. (2) Vessels engaged in explorations and scientific work. (3) Hospital ships. (4) Small coast fishing vessels. This exemption is not allowed to deep-sea fishing vessels.3 1 Appendix, p. 432. 2 ' Appendix, p. 426. (5) Small boats employed in local trade. (6) Vessels of one of the belligerents in the ports of the other at the outbreak of hostilities were more often allowed a specified time in which to take cargo and depart. In the war between the United States and Spain, 1898, Spanish vessels were allowed thirty days in which to depart and were to be exempt on homeward voyage. Vessels sailing from Spain for the United States ports before the declaration of war were to be allowed to continue their voyages.1 Spain allowed vessels of the United States five days in which to depart.2 It did not prohibit the capture of such ships after departure. No provision was made for vessels sailing from the United States for Spanish ports before the declaration of war. Provisions of the Hague Conference. The Hague Convention of 1907 relative to the Status of Enemy Merchant Ships at the Outbreak of Hostilities provided for "a reasonable number of days of grace" for vessels in an enemy port at the outbreak of hostilities or entering an enemy port without knowledge of the hostilities. Enemy merchant vessels on the sea ignorant of the outbreak of hostilities may be detained without compensation or requisitioned or even destroyed on payment of compensation, due care being taken for security of persons and papers on board. These exemptions do not apply to "merchant ships whose build shows that they are intended for conversion into war-ships." 3 In the Prize Law of Japan, 1894, the following exemptions of enemy's vessels are made: "(1) Boats engaged in coast fisheries. 1 Proclamation of April 26, 1898. Appendix, p. 425. 'Decree of April 23, 1898. "(2) Ships engaged exclusively on a voyage of scientific discovery, philanthropy, or religious mission. "(3) Vessels actually engaged in cartel service, and this even when they actually have prisoners on board. "(4) Boats belonging to lighthouses." 1 (c) The transfer of an enemy vessel to a neutral flag was sometimes resorted to as a means of changing the status of private vessels in anticipation of the outbreak of war. In order to remove uncertainty and to secure as great freedom of commerce as possible without unduly restricting belligerent rights, the Declaration of London of 1909 provides: Transfer of enemy vessel to a neutral flag. "ART. 55. The transfer of an enemy vessel to a neutral flag, effected before the opening of hostilities, is valid, unless it is proved that such transfer was made in order to evade the consequences which the enemy character of the vessel would involve. There is, however, a presumption that the transfer is void if the bill of sale is not on board in case the vessel has lost her belligerent nationality less than sixty days before the opening of hostilities. Proof to the contrary is admitted. "There is absolute presumption of the validity of a transfer effected more than thirty days before the opening of hostilities if it is absolute, complete, conforms to the laws of the countries concerned, and if its effect is such that the control of the vessel and the profits of her employment do not remain in the same hands as before the transfer. If, however, the vessel lost her belligerent nationality less than sixty days before the opening of hostilities, and if the bill of sale is not on board the capture of the vessel would not give a right to compensation.” 2 108. Goods In general all public goods found upon the seas outside of neutral jurisdiction are liable to capture. Works of art, 'Takahashi, Chino-Japanese, p. 178, 'Appendix, p. 460, |