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judge and condemn any Ship or Goods, or any other Jurisdiction or Authority of or exerciseable by a Prize Court.

Commencement.

56. This Act shall commence on the Commencement of The Naval Agency and Distribution Act, 1864.

XXII.

Prize Courts Act, 1894.

AN ACT TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION FOR THE ESTABLISHment of Prize Courts, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES CONNECTED THEREwith (August 17, 1894).

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. This Act may be cited as the Prize Courts Act, 1894. 2. (1) Any commission, warrant, or instructions from Her Majesty the Queen or the Admiralty for the purpose of commissioning or regulating the procedure of a prize court at any place in a British possession may, notwithstanding the existence of peace, be issued at any time, with a direction that the court shall act only upon such proclamation as herein-after mentioned being made in the possession.

(2) Where any such commission, warrant, or instructions have been issued, then, subject to instructions from Her Majesty, the Vice-Admiral of such possession may, when satisfied by information from a Secretary of State or otherwise, that war has broken out between Her Majesty and any foreign State, proclaim that war has so broken out, and thereupon the said commission, warrant, and instructions shall take effect as if the same had been issued after the breaking out of such war and such foreign State were named therein.

(3) The said commission and warrant may authorize either a Vice-Admiralty Court or a Colonial Court of Admiralty,

within the meaning of the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, to act as a prize court, and may establish a Vice-Admiralty Court for that purpose.

(4) Any such commission, warrant, or instructions may be revoked or altered from time to time.

(5) A court duly authorized to act as a prize court during any war shall after the conclusion of the war continue so to act in relation to, and finally dispose of, all matters and things which arose during the war, including all penalties and forfeitures incurred during the war.

3. (1) Her Majesty the Queen in Council may make rules of court for regulating, subject to the provisions of the Naval Prize Act, 1864, and this Act, the procedure and practice of prize courts within the meaning of that Act, and the duties and conduct of the officers thereof, and of the practitioners therein, and for regulating the fees to be taken by the officers of the courts, and the costs, charges, and expenses to be allowed to the practitioners therein.

(2) Every rule so made shall, whenever made, take effect at the time therein mentioned, and shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament, and shall be kept exhibited in a conspicuous place in each court to which it relates.

(3) This section shall be substituted for section thirteen of the Naval Prize Act, 1864, which section is hereby repealed. (4) If any Colonial Court of Admiralty within the meaning of the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890, is authorized under this Act or otherwise to act as a prize court, all fees arising in respect of prize business transacted in the court shall be fixed, collected, and applied in like manner as the fees arising in respect of the Admiralty business of the court under the said Act.

4. Her Majesty the Queen in Council may make rules of court for regulating the procedure and practice, including fees and costs, in a Vice-Admiralty Court, whether under this Act or otherwise.

5. Section twenty-five of the Government of India Act, 1800, is hereby repealed.

XXIII.

Commissioners for Oaths (Prize Proceedings) Act, 1907.

AN ACT FOR AMENDING THE LAW RELATING TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF OATHS FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROCEEDINGS IN PRIZE COUrts (August 28, 1907).

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. There shall be added to section four of the Commissioners for Oaths Act, 1889 (which relates to the appointment of persons to administer oaths in prize proceedings), the following provisions:

"Any officer for the time being holding any prescribed office on board any of His Majesty's ships, or any of His Majesty's ships of any prescribed class, shall, whilst on the high seas or out of His Majesty's Dominions, by virtue of his office, be empowered to administer oaths and take affidavits for any purpose relating to proceedings in any prize court within the meaning of the Naval Prize Act, 1864, as amended by any subsequent enactment.

"In this section the expression 'prescribed' means prescribed in any regulations made by the Admiralty with the consent of the Lord Chancellor, and the expression 'His Majesty's ships' includes any of His Majesty's vessels of war and any hired ship or vessel in His Majesty's service.

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Any document purporting to have subscribed thereto the signature of any person authorized by or under this section to administer an oath, in testimony of any oath or affidavit being administered or taken before him, shall be admitted in evidence without proof of the signature being the signature of that person, or of the official character of that person."

2. This Act may be cited as the Commissioners for Oaths (Prize Proceedings) Act, 1907, and the Commissioners for Oaths Acts, 1889 and 1891, and the Commissioners for Oaths Amendment Act, 1890, and this Act may be cited together as the Commissioners for Oaths Acts, 1889 to 1907.

XXIV.

Prize Courts (Procedure) Act, 1914.

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO PROCEDURE IN PRIZE COURTS (August 5, 1914).

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

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1. (1) As from the date when rules under an Order in Council made after the passing of this Act in pursuance of section three of the Prize Courts Act, 1894, regulating the procedure and practice in prize courts, come into operation, such of the provisions of the Naval Prize Act, 1864, as are specified in the Schedule to this Act (being enactments relating to the practice and procedure in prize courts) shall be repealed:

Provided that nothing in such repeal shall have the effect of extending section sixteen of that Act to ships of war taken as prize, and accordingly that section shall have effect as if the following words were inserted therein :-"Nothing in this section shall apply to ships of war taken as prize."

(2) Any cause or proceeding commenced in any prize court before such rules as aforesaid come into operation as respects that court may, as the court directs, be either

(a) recommenced and proceeded with in accordance with the said rules; or

(b) continued in accordance with the said rules subject to such adaptations as the court may deem necessary to make them applicable to the case; or

(c) continued to the determination thereof in accordance with the procedure applicable to the case at the commencement of the cause or proceeding.

2. This Act may be cited as the Prize Courts (Procedure) Act, 1914, and shall be construed as one with the Naval Prize Act, 1864; and that Act and the Prize Courts Act, 1894, and this Act may be cited together as the Naval Prize Acts, 1864 to 1914.

SCHEDULE.

PROVISIONS OF NAVAL PRIZE ACT, 1864, REPEALED.

Sections 7 and 8, 18 to 29, 32, 33, and 36, and in section 41, the words " either by warrant of arrest against the ship or goods, or by monition and attachment against the owner."

XXV.

British Prisoners of War.

WAR OFFICE STATEMENT.

The War Office issued the following statement on September 18, 1914:

His Majesty's Government have now received information that the German Government are prepared to communicate lists of British prisoners of war who are in their hands, in return for similar information as to German prisoners of war interned in this country. It is contemplated that such lists, which will include information as to the physical condition of the prisoners, shall be interchanged periodically.

Relatives of British officers and men who may be included in such lists will receive immediate notification of the fact. As no lists have yet been received through this channel, no information is at present available. As soon as they are received notification will be made. Meanwhile inquiries cannot be answered.

Arrangements are also being made for the transmission to Germany of letters, postcards, and postal parcels intended for British prisoners of war. Correspondence or postal parcels intended for British prisoners of war will be exempt from postage charges, and must be addressed as follows:

Captain X. or Private Y.

Name of Unit,

British Prisoner of War,

Prisoners of War Information Bureau,

Berlin.

In order to avoid delay in the delivery, no letters should be

enclosed in parcels.

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