The Benito Estenger

Citations

• 176 U.S. 568
• 20 S. Ct. 489
• 44 L. Ed. 592
• 1900 U.S. LEXIS 1758

Syllabus

<p>The general rule is that in time of war the citizens or subjects of the belligerents are enemies to each other without regard to individual sentiments or dispositions, and that political status determines the question of enemy ownership.</p> <p>By the law of prize, property engaged in any illegal intercourse with the enemy is deemed enemy property, whether belonging to’ an ally or a citizen, as the illegal traffic stamps it with the hostile character and attaches to it all the penal consequences.</p> <p>Provisions are not, in general, deemed contraband; but they may become so if destined for the army or navy of the enemy, or his ports of naval or military equipment.</p> <p>In dealing with a .vessel asserted to be an enemy vessel, the fact of trade with the enemy in supplies necessary for the enemy’s forces is of decisive importance.</p> <p>Individual acts of friendship cannot change political status'where there is no open adherence to the opposite cause and former allegiance remains apparently unchanged.</p> <p>A consul has no authority by reason of his official station to grant exemption from capture to an enemy vessel; and this vessel was not entitled to protection by reason of any engagement with the United States.</p> <p>In cases of peculiar hardship, or calling for liberal treatment, it is not fo'r the courts, but for another department of the Government, to extend such amelioration as the particular instance may demand.</p> <p>Transfers of vessels flagrante bello cannot be sustained if subjected to any condition by which the vendor retains an interest in the vessel or its profits, a control over it, or a right to its’restoration at the close of the war.</p> <p>The burden of proof in respect of the validity of such transfers is on the claimant, and the court holds as to the transfer in this case that the requirements of the law of prize were not satisfied by the proofs.</p>