108 NOMOLOGY. 



captured territory becomes subject to the victorious power. A cap- 

 tured vessel may be ransomed ; and the ransom bill, or note of 

 promise given to the captor, is one of the few contracts allowable 

 between hostile parties. A vessel recaptured, returns to its original 

 owners, by the jus postliminii, which supposes that it had never 

 ceased to belong to them. The poisoning of wells, or food; the 

 injury of private citizens ; the maltreatment of prisoners ; and the 

 violation of passports, cartels, flags of truce, conventions, or capitula- 

 tions, are universally forbidden, among civilized nations. 



Those powers, or states, which are not parties to the war, are called 

 neutral: and they have important relations to the belligerents. They 

 are expected to aid neither party ; and their trade with both parties 

 is restricted, but how far is not exactly decided. The neutral mer- 

 chant may carry his own goods, if not contraband of war, to any 

 ports of either hostile party, not actually blockaded : but a block- 

 aded port he is not permitted to enter. All articles useful solely 

 in war, are contraband ; and other articles may become so, if car- 

 ried to a besieged place, or designed to aid directly in carrying on 

 the war. The punishment for carrying contraband articles, is 

 generally the confiscation of the whole cargo. The right of search, 

 usually conceded to belligerents, to see that neutral vessels have no 

 contraband goods, extends only to neutral merchant vessels, and 

 not to national ships. Neutral property, on board ships captured 

 from the enemy, must be restored ; but an enemy's property, on 

 board of a neutral ship, may be seized by the searching vessel. 

 Neutral territory is inviolable ; protecting even the enemy's property ; 

 but the neutral nation may either grant or withhold free passage 

 across its territory, so that it treat both the hostile parties alike. The 

 character of individuals is either neutral or belligerent, according as 

 they reside in neutral or hostile territory ; or if they have no actual 

 residence, it depends upon their previous intention, if clearly proved. 



3. Maritime Law, is that division of Jurisprudence which re- 

 lates to crimes and transactions on the high seas ; including the laws 

 of maritime captures, and privateering; with those relating to piracy, 

 the slave trade, and other offences ; which in England are tried by 

 the Admiralty Courts, but in our own country, by the Courts of the 

 General Government. Contracts made upon the high seas may also 

 be included under Maritime Law; and the distinction between this 

 and Commercial Law is perhaps not very clearly defined. Many 

 principles of Maritime Law, particularly those relating to maritime 

 captures, belong to the preceding section of International Law ; but 

 as this division is separately treated of in other works, we have 

 thought it proper to assign it here a distinct place. The English 

 Admiralty Court was instituted by Edward III., in 1357; but re- 

 ceived a more popular form, under Henry VIII., in 1517. Its juris- 

 diction extends to some cases of Commercial as well as Maritime 

 Law ; and to all such cases, the term Admiralty Law has been 

 applied. Azuni, in his work on the Maritime Law of Europe, has 

 the merit of being the first writer who reduced this subject to a 

 regular system. 



The necessity of requiring a judicial decision to legalize captures 



