File No. 763.72112/2752
I may add that the memorandum was sent to me by the Minister for
Foreign Affairs with the request that it be transmitted to the
Government of the United States.
[Enclosure—Translation]
Decree repealing previous decrees relating to
the Declaration of London, with report of reasons
therefor
Report to the President of the French
Republic
Mr. President: By decree of August 25,
1914, later superseded by the decree of November 6, of the same
year, the Government of the Republic, in agreement with its
allies, made the rules of international maritime law, formulated
by the declaration signed in London on February 26, 1909, and
which remained without ratification, applicable.
Experience having, little by little, led to the conclusion that
these rules were not susceptible of assuring for the
belligerents the exercise of the rights accruing to them from
the general principles of the law of nations, several
modifications were successively made. Certain doubts and certain
obscurity were the result of this. It seems opportune to
eliminate them by suppressing entirely the application of the
rules formulated at London and for us to observe the principles
of international law such as they have been for a long time
consecrated by French legislation as well as by the treaties in
force and whose application is assured by naval instructions
concerning international law in time of war, published in the
Official Bulletin of Marine of January 30, 1916.
The same point of view has been adopted by our allies and
appropriate measures have been taken by them to maintain in
this, as well as in other matters, unity of action and
uniformity of practice in the conduct of hostilities.
It is under these conditions and with this spirit that the
memorandum hereto annexed, addressed by the Allied Governments
to the neutral governments, is conceived.
According to our regulation (rule of July 26, 1778, Article 1),
ships carrying contraband are not susceptible of confiscation
unless the merchandise forms [Page 417] more than three-fourths of the value of
the entire cargo; but this restriction is subordinated to an
identical practice on the part of the enemy, the Governments of
Germany and Austria-Hungary prescribe confiscation when
contraband merchandise forms, either by its value, or by its
weight, or by its bulk, or by its burden, more than one-half the
cargo. There is, therefore, reason to follow an analogous rule,
which our allies propose to observe likewise.
On the other hand, our regulation above mentioned (Article 1),
clearly states the principle according to which contraband
merchandise may be seized when it is intended for the enemy and,
in this respect, this text makes no restriction or limitation
and no distinction between cases where the hostile destination
of the merchandise is direct or indirect, manifest or
dissimulated.
The adoption of the rules of the Declaration of London had to be
accompanied in the decrees of application by certain
dispositions intended to exclude restrictions or to complete the
stipulations which the Declaration of London had consecrated as
a conventional transaction between contracting powers. Although
liability to seizure of contraband merchandise, in case of
hostile destination indirect and dissimulated had been
elucidated by jurisprudence (prize court [conseil], May 26, 1855, the case of the Vrow-Houwina) the fear was expressed that
the abrogation of these decrees might give rise to doubts and it
has seemed necessary to recall certain circumstances from which,
if they are established, one is entitled to deduct, in default
of proof to the contrary, the hostile destination of a
contraband cargo.
If these different considerations seem to you justified, we beg
of you to sign the project of the following decree.
With the assurance [etc.]
The President of the Council,
Minister
of Foreign Affairs,
Aristide Briand
The Minister of War,
Roques
The Minister of Marine,
Lacaze
The Minister of Colonies,
Gaston Doumergue
decree
The President of the French Republic, on the report of the
President of the Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs, of
the Ministers of War, Marine, and Colonies,
In view of the decrees of November 6, 1914, of October 23,
1915, and of April 12, 1916;
In view of the maritime decree of August 1681, Book III,
title 9, the regulation of July 26, 1778, the decree of the
consuls of 29 Frimaire, An VIII;
In view of the Declaration of Paris of April 16, 1856, and
the conventions signed at The Hague on October 18, 1907;
Decrees:
Article 1. The decree of November
6, 1914, making applicable with certain modifications and
additions the rules formulated by the Declaration of London
of February 26, 1909, concerning the law of maritime
warfare, as well as the decrees of October 23, 1915, and of
April 12, 1916, adding new modifications to the said rules,
are hereby repealed.
Article 2. Whenever contraband
merchandise seized on a ship forms by its value, its weight,
its volume, or its burden more than one-half of the cargo,
the ship and its entire cargo are subject to
confiscation.
Article 3. If the documents
accompanying a cargo constituting by its nature contraband
of war and found on board a ship bound for a country
bordering the enemy countries or a country occupied by the
enemy do not specify the final and definitive destination of
the said cargo in a neutral country, or if the importation
into the said neutral country of the articles composing the
cargo is out of proportion to normal importation, implying
an ulterior hostile destination, the said cargo shall be
subject to capture unless the interested parties can prove
that the destination was really innocent.
[Page 418]
Article 4. The President of the
Council, Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Ministers of War,
Marine, and Colonies, are charged, each within his own
province, with the execution of the present decree.
Done in
Paris on July 7,
1916.
R. Poincaré
By the President of the Republic:
The President of the
Council,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Aristide Briand
The Minister of War,
Roques
The Minister of Marine,
Lacaze
The Minister of Colonies,
Gaston Doumergue
