The Manila Prize Cases

Citations

• 188 U.S. 254
• 23 S. Ct. 415
• 47 L. Ed. 463
• 1903 U.S. LEXIS 1279

Syllabus

<p>While the right of the citizen to demand condemnation of vessels or prop, erty as prize for his benefit must be derived from acts of Congress, and their scope is not tó be enlarged in his favor by construction, where there is no controversy in respect to the existence of the grant, a more liberal construction may be applied in carrying the intention of Congress into effect.</p> <p>1. Vessels lying on the bottom in shallow water in such condition, as the result of a naval engagement, that they cannot be floated by any of the means possessed by the naval force overcoming them, but which are af-terwards, by the independent means of the Government, raised and repaired and appropriated to its own use are not to be regarded as sunk or destroyed within the meaning of sec. 4635, Rev. Stat., but they maybe regarded as within the provisions of secs. 4624 and 4625, and their money value may stand in place of prize and be so adjudicated.</p> <p>2. The legal status of property taken from vessels in such condition must be regarded as the same as the vessel to which it belongs.</p> <p>3.- Naval stores — public enemy property — designed for hostile uses, stored on the sea shore in an establishment for facilitating naval warfare, when taken by a naval force, as a result of a naval engagement, can be adjudged as prize for the benefit of the captors.</p> <p>As the right of the government of the capturing naval force is supreme, it may when in its judgment the public interest demands it, restore a prize; and the courts cannot proceed to condemnation as to captured property restored under a treaty of peace before decree.</p> <p>The strength of the capturing naval force under Admiral Dewey’s command at Manila was superior to that of the Spanish .fleet on May 1, 1898.</p> <p>4. Cascoes, or native boats, and certain floating derricks, property of private persons in the Philippine Islands, were rightly held by the District Court not to be subject to condemnation as prize.</p> <p>5. Vesse