CO885-(15-16) — Page 698

30904

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O.

Reference :-

.885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

16 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

No. 185.

(GENERAL.)

CASE SUBMITTED BY THE TREASURY FOR THE OPINION OF THE LAW OFFICERS.

[Power of the Crown to make Grants out of Prize Funds.]

As the Law Officers will observe from the copy minutes herewith, the question has arisen as to the power of the Crown to make grants out of prize proceeds to meet claims recommended for payment by the Prize Claims Committee, or payments to officers and men of the Naval Service by way of bounty in lieu of prize money along the lines announced, namely, not as rewards to the actual captors, but as a general bounty to be distributed rateably throughout the Service.

The Law Officers are requested to refer generally to the copy minutes and in particular to the argument contained in the minute of the Solicitor to the Treasury, dated the 26th February, 1915 (see page 4, et seq), which the remarks in this case are intended to some extent to supplement.

It seems that all prize is to be regarded as constituting either droits of the Crown or droits of Admiralty. Such droits of the Crown are in the main those which in former wars have almost without exception been granted to the actual captors by proclamation issued after the declaration of war. The droits of Admiralty constituted the perquisites of the Lord High Admiral and, since that office has fallen into abeyance, have passed to the Crown in right of the office of Admiralty. No general grant of these rights has ever been made similar to that of droits of the Crown, but it appears to have been the practice of the Crown, out of its bounty, to make grants of a varying proportion of the proceeds of these droits of Admiralty to persons who had been in any way material in securing the property to the Crown, and in the case of the Belvidere" (1 Dods. 353; 2 E.P.C., 183) Lord Stowell referred to a practice to give to English merchants from the bounty of the Crown the expenses incurred in the outfit of a vessel immediately before seizure. At that time droits of the Crown and droits of the Admiralty formed part of the hereditary revenue passing to the Crown, to be dealt with by the Crown without any material restriction in this respect, but, at any rate, by the Act of 1 Victoria, Cap. 2, these hereditary revenues were surrendered by the Sovereign, and were to be carried to the Consolidated Fund, and, as pointed out in the Solicitor's minute referred to, under Section 12 there was reserved to the Crown only the power to grant any droits of Admiralty or droits of the Crown or part or proportion of such droits respectively as a reward or remuneration to any officer or officers or other person or persons seizing or taking the same or giving any infor- mation relating thereto.

Although not perhaps as clear as might be, it would seem that the subsequent Civil List Acts of 1 Edward VII., Cap. 4 (Ss. 1 and 9 (2)), and 10 Edward VII. and 1 Geo. V., Cap. 28 (Ss. 1 and 9 (2)), have left the position in this respect the

same.

During the Crimean War the only grants that were made of prize proceeds were the usual grant to captors of droits of the Crown and certain limited grants out of the droits of Admiralty to those who had been instrumental in seizing the property or had given information resulting in the seizure. These cases, therefore, fell expresssly within section 12 of the Civil List Act, 1837.

The payments which it is now suggested should be made out of prize proceeds would not appear to fall within the express wording of this section. Payments to mortgagees or necessary men and payments by way of bounty to the whole of the personnel of the Navy can scarcely be regarded as rewards to persons seizing or taking the property or giving information in relation thereto, and the question arises whether prize proceeds to meet such payments can be held back, or whether the proceeds must not pass to the Consolidated Fund, pursuant to the Civil List Acts, in which case, apparently, money to meet the proposed payments will, as matters stand, have to be voted by Parliament.

Moreover, as regards at any rate the "detained" ships, there may be no funds arising from any particular vessel from which claims could be met. These ships

(5488-9.) Wt. 7-999. 95. 7/15. D & S. 1.