File No. 763.72112/2753
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
No. 4181
London,
July 10, 1916
.
[Received July
24.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith,
for the information of the Department, a copy, in duplicate, of the
text of an order in council dated the 7th instant, which has been
received from the Foreign Office, called “The Maritime Rights Order
in Council, 1916,” which effects a change in the rules hitherto
adopted by the British Government to govern their conduct of warfare
at sea during the present hostilities.
There is also transmitted herewith a copy, in duplicate, of a
memorandum which has been drawn up by the British and French
Governments explaining the grounds for the issue of the
aforementioned order in council.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure 1]
Order in Council
At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 7th day of July, 1916.
Present, the King’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council.
Whereas by an Order in Council, dated
the 20th day of August, 1914, His Majesty was pleased to declare
that during the present hostilities the provisions of the
Declaration of London should, subject to certain additions and
modifications therein specified, be adopted and put in force by
His Majesty’s Government:
And Whereas the said Declaration was
adopted as aforementioned in common with His Majesty’s
Allies:
And Whereas it has been necessary for
His Majesty and for His Allies from time to time to issue
further enactments modifying the application of the articles of
the said Declaration:
And Whereas Orders in Council for this
purpose have been issued by His Majesty on the 29th day of
October, 1914, the 20th day of October, 1915, and the 30th day
of March, 1916:
And Whereas the issue of these
successive Orders in Council may have given rise to some doubt
as to the intention of His Majesty, as also as to that of his
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Allies, to act in
strict accordance with the law of nations, and it is therefore
expedient to withdraw the said Orders so far as they are now in
force:
Now, therefore, His Majesty, by and
with the advice of His Privy Council, is pleased to order, and
it is hereby ordered, that the Declaration of London Order in
Council No. 2, 1914, and all Orders subsequent thereto amending
the said Order are hereby withdrawn;
And His Majesty is pleased further to declare, by and with the
advice of His Privy Council, and it is hereby declared, that it
is and always has been His intention, as it is and has been that
of His Allies, to exercise their belligerent rights at sea in
strict accordance with the law of nations;
And Whereas on account of the changed
conditions of commerce and the diversity of practice doubts
might arise in certain matters as to the rules which His Majesty
and His Allies regard as being in conformity with the law of
nations, and it is expedient to deal with such matters
specifically;
It is hereby ordered that the following provisions shall be observed:
- (a)
- The hostile destination required for the condemnation
of contraband articles shall be presumed to exist, until
the contrary is shown, if the goods are consigned to or
for an enemy authority, or an agent of the enemy State,
or to or for a person in territory belonging to or
occupied by the enemy, or to or for a person who, during
the present hostilities, has forwarded contraband goods
to an enemy authority, or an agent of the enemy State,
or to or for a person in territory belonging to or
occupied by the enemy, or if the goods are consigned “to
order,” or if the ship’s papers do not show who is the
real consignee of the goods.
- (b)
- The principle of continuous voyage or ultimate
destination shall be applicable both in cases of
contraband and of blockade.
- (c)
- A neutral vessel carrying contraband with papers
indicating a neutral destination, which, notwithstanding
the destination shown on the papers, proceeds to an
enemy port, shall be liable to capture and condemnation
if she is encountered before the end of her next
voyage.
- (d)
- A vessel carrying contraband shall be liable to
capture and condemnation if the contraband, reckoned
either by value, weight, volume, or freight, forms more
than half the cargo.
And it is hereby further ordered as follows:
- (i)
- Nothing herein shall be deemed to affect the Order in
Council of the 11th March, 1915, for restricting further
the commerce of the enemy or any of His Majesty’s
Proclamations declaring articles to be contraband of war
during the present hostilities.
- (ii)
- Nothing herein shall affect the validity of anything
done under the Orders in Council hereby
withdrawn.
- (iii)
- Any cause or proceeding commenced in any Prize Court
before the making of this Order may, if the Court thinks
just, be heard and decided under the provisions of the
Orders hereby withdrawn so far as they were in force at
the date when such cause or proceeding was commenced, or
would have been applicable in such cause or proceeding
if this Order had not been made.
This Order may be cited as “The Maritime Rights Order in Council,
1916.”
And the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury, the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, and each of His Majesty’s
Principal Secretaries of State, the President of the Probate,
Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice,
all other judges of His Majesty’s Prize Courts, and all
Governors, Officers, and Authorities whom it may concern, are to
give the necessary directions herein as to them may respectively
appertain.
[Enclosure 2]
Memorandum
At the beginning of the present war the Allied Governments, in
their anxiety to regulate their conduct by the principles of the
law of nations, believed that in the Declaration of London they
would find a suitable digest of principles and compendium of
working rules. They accordingly decided to adopt the provisions
of the declaration, not as in itself possessing for them the
force of law, but because it seemed to present in its main lines
a statement of the rights and the duties of belligerents based
on the experience of previous naval wars.
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As the present struggle developed, acquiring a range and
character beyond all previous conceptions, it became clear that
the attempt made at London in time of peace to determine, not
only the principles of law, but even the forms under which they
were to be applied, had not produced a wholly satisfactory
result. As a matter of fact, these rules, while not in all
respects improving the safeguards afforded to neutrals, do not
provide belligerents with the most effective means of exercising
their admitted rights.
As events progressed, the Germanic powers put forth all their
ingenuity to relax the pressure tightening about them, and to
reopen a channel for supplies; their devices compromised
innocent neutral commerce and involved it in suspicions of enemy
agency. Moreover, the manifold developments of naval and
military science, the invention of new engines of war, the
concentration by the Germanic powers of the whole body of their
resources on military ends, produced conditions altogether
different from those prevailing in previous naval wars.
The rules laid down in the Declaration of London could not stand
the strain imposed by the test of rapidly changing conditions
and tendencies which could not have been foreseen.
The Allied Governments were forced to recognise the situation
thus created, and to adapt the rules of the Declaration from
time to time to meet these changing conditions.
These successive modifications may perhaps have exposed the
purpose of the Allies to misconstruction; they have therefore
come to the conclusion that they must confine themselves simply
to applying the historic and admitted rules of the law of
nations.
The Allies solemnly and unreservedly declare that the action of
their war-ships, no less than the judgments of their prize
courts, will continue to conform to these principles; that they
will faithfully fulfil their engagements and in particular will
observe the terms of all international conventions regarding the
laws of war; that mindful of the dictates of humanity, they
repudiate utterly all thought of threatening the lives of
non-combatants; that they will not without cause interfere with
neutral property; and that if they should, by the action of
their fleets, cause damage to the interests of any merchant
acting in good faith, they will always be ready to consider his
claims and to grant him such redress as may be due.
Foreign Office,
July 7, 1916.
