During the late war between the North German Confederation and France, a Prussian merchant vessel was captured in the English Channel, as prize of war, by a ship in the service of the government of France. A prize crew, under the command of an officer in the French naval service, was put on board the prize; afterwards the prize was driven, by stress of weather, to the Downs, and on the 24th of November, by order of an admiral in the French naval service, she anchored off Deal, within three marine miles of the shore. On the 26th of November, the collector of customs at Deal told the French consul there that it was time the prize left British waters. The French consul having found the Gauntlet, a British steam-tug, by accident at anchor in the Downs, the steam-tug, in pursuance of an agreement made between her master and the officer in command of the prize, and under the direction of such officer, towed the prize to Dunkirk Roads for the ordinary towage remuneration, which was afterwards paid by the French consul-general in London. At the time the agreement was made, the master, who was one of the owners of the steam-tug, had reasonable cause to believe that the prize was a prize of war, captured by the French. In a suit instituted on behalf of the Crown, for the condemnation of the steamtug :
Held: No offence against the Foreign Enlistment Act, 1870 (33 and 34 Viet, c. 90), had been committed.
Semble, that the steam-tug was not employed in the military or naval service of France.
Quaere, Whether it is necessary to complete the title of the captor to prize of war, that the prize should be carried within the territory of the captor
[1871] UKLawRpAE 15, (1869-1872) LR 3 AE 381
Commonliee
Foreign Enlistment Act 1870
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Dyke v Elliott (The ‘Gauntlet’) PC 9-Feb-1872
A French Ship of War captured in the English Channel a Prussian Ship as prize of war. A prize crew under a French naval Officer was put on board. The prize Ship being driven by stress of weather into the Downs, anchored within British waters, and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 13 October 2021; Ref: scu.653248 br>