dered so difficult as to become to all intents impossible, it is not surprising that a great part of it should be deflected to Scandinavian ports from which access to the German ports in the Baltic and to inland Germany by overland routes was available, and that this deflection resulted, the facts universally known strongly testify. The neutral trade concerned in the present cases is that of the United States of America; and the transactions which have to be scrutinized arose from a trading, either real and bona fide, or pretended and ostensible only, with Denmark, in the course of which these vessels' sea voyages were made between New York and Copenhagen.

Denmark is a country with a small population of less than three millions; and is, of course, as regards foodstuffs, an exporting, and not an importing, country. Its situation, however, renders it convenient to transport goods from its territory to German ports and places like Hamburg, Altona, Lübeck, Stettin, and Berlin.

The total cargoes in the four captured ships bound for Copenhagen within about three weeks amounted to about 73,237,000 lbs. in weight. (These weights and other weights which will be given are gross weights according to the ship's manifest.) Portions of these cargoes have been released, and other portions remain unclaimed.

The quantity of goods claimed in these proceedings is very large. Altogether the claims cover about 32,312,000 lbs. (exclusive of the rubber and hides).

The claimants did not supply any information as to the quantities of similar products which they had supplied or consigned to Denmark previous to the war. Some illustrative statistics were given by the Crown, with regard to lard of various qualities, which are not without significance, and which form a fair criterion of the imports of these and like substances into Denmark before the war; and they give a measure for comparison with the imports of lard consigned to Copenhagen after the outbreak of war upon the four vessels now before the court.

The average annual quantity of lard imported into Denmark during the three years 1911 to 1913 from all sources was 1,459,000 lbs. The quantity of lard consigned to Copenhagen on these four ships alone was 19,252,000 lbs. Comparing these quantities, the result is that these vessels were carrying towards Copenhagen within less than a month, more than thirteen times the quantity of lard which had been imported annually to Denmark for each of the three years before the war.

To illustrate further the change effected by the war, it was given in

evidence that the imports of lard from the United States of America to Scandinavia (or, more accurately, to parts of Europe other than the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy) during the months of October and November 1914 amounted to 50,647,849 lbs. as compared with 854,856 lbs. for the same months in 1913 showing an increase for the two months of 49,792,993 lbs.; or in other words the imports during those two months in 1914 were nearly sixty times those for the corresponding months of 1913.

One more illustration may be given from statistics which were given in evidence for one of the claimants (Hammond and Swift): In the five months, August-December 1913, the exports of lard from the United States of America to Germany were 68,664,975 lbs. During the same five months in 1914 they had fallen to a mere nominal quantity, 23,800 lbs. On the other hand, during those periods, similar exports from the United States of America to Scandinavian countries (including Malta and Gibraltar, which would not materially affect the comparison) rose from 2,125,579 lbs. to 59,694,447 lbs.

These facts give practical certainty to the inference that an overwhelming proportion (so overwhelming as to amount to almost the whole) of the consignments of lard in the four vessels we are dealing with, was intended for, or would find its way into Germany.

These, however, are general considerations, important to bear in mind in their appropriate place; but not in any sense conclusive upon the serious questions of consecutive voyages, of hostile quality, and of hostile destination, which are involved before it can be determined whether the goods seized are confiscable as prize.

The dates of sailing and capture have been given with an intimation that they may have a bearing upon the law applicable to the cases. The Alfred Nobel, the Bjornsterjne Bjornson, and the Fridland started on their voyages in the interval between the making of the two Orders in Council of the 20th August and the 29th October. The Kim commenced her voyage after the latter Order came into force. By the Proclamation of the 4th August all the goods now claimed (other than the rubber and the hides) were declared to be conditional contraband. The cargoes of rubber seized were laden on the Fridland and the Kim. Rubber was declared conditional contraband on the 21st September 1914; and absolute contraband on the 29th October. Accordingly the rubber on the Fridland was conditional contraband; and that on the Kim was absolute contraband. The hides were laden on the Kim. Hides were

declared conditional contraband on the 21st September 1914. No contention was made on behalf of the claimants that the goods were not to be regarded as conditional or absolute contraband, in accordance with the respective proclamations affecting them. That is to say, it was admitted that the goods partook of the character of conditional or absolute contraband under the said proclamations, and were to be dealt with accordingly.

The law can best be discussed, and can only be applied after ascertaining the facts.

[The following summary is substituted for the detailed analysis and extended examination of the facts in each case made by the court before dealing with the legal questions involved.]

According to the figures given to the court by the Law Officers of the Crown five American firms were consignors of lard and meat products on the four vessels (four on each of the vessels and one on two of them), to the following extent:

The portions of the cargoes which were released and those which were not claimed, the court stated, would be dealt with in a separate judgment. Some overlapping appears in the following figures, as some parts of the cargoes were claimed by the consignors, and also by some alleged vendees. For these and other reasons, the court stated, some corrections in the figures may become necessary.

Direct claims were made by the five American shippers and consignors of the goods laden on the four ships, who allege that the goods had remained their property, and base their claims upon ownership at the time of seizure. These claims were made and considered as follows:

MORRIS & CO. (with STERN & Co. a subsidiary company whose case, by request of counsel, was treated as identical with the Morris claim) make a direct claim for 5,176,327 lbs. of goods laden on the four ships and there are subclaims of their alleged vendees amounting to 1,394,407 lbs.

Morris & Co. had a large business with Germany before the war, conducted by agents at Hamburg, named McCann and Fry. After the outbreak of the war, these agents moved to Copenhagen and the transactions relating to the seized shipments were conducted by them, and McCann was named in the bills of lading as the "Party to be notified." He had no business in Denmark before the war and no office in Copenhagen, the company's business for that territory having been carried on by another agent stationed in Copenhagen but he took no part in the transactions re

lating to these shipments. The instructions from claimants to their Hamburg agents concerning the change of quarters to Copenhagen were not produced in evidence nor any explanation offered, nor was any correspondence passing between them concerning these transactions produced, or affidavits submitted by the agents in explanation of their part in the transactions. McCann and Fry, after moving to Copenhagen, formed a company under the name of the "Dansk Fedt Import Kompagnie" with a capital of 1207, which in about five weeks imported lard and meat to the value of about 280,000l. On January 24, 1915 McCann sent a cable from Copenhagen to Morris & Co. in New York, which was intercepted by the British censor, reading "Don't ship any lard Copenhagen, export prohibited," and afterwards goods like lard and fat-backs were consigned by Morris & Co. to Genoa, Italy not then having joined the war. The court took notice of the prohibitions enacted by the Scandinavian countries against the exportation of foodstuffs and other commodities, and although the cablegram referred to was subsequent to the seizure of the cargoes in question, the court stated that the cablegram testified that lard was not required by or for Denmark, and that the previous importations into Copenhagen were in the main a mere stage in its passage into Germany.

The evidence put forward in support of the direct claim of Morris & Co. was an affidavit of the assistant secretary and treasurer of the company, sworn in Chicago on May 27, 1915, in which it was stated that Morris & Co. had "for many years shipped considerable quantities of its products to Denmark, both directly to Copenhagen and through adjacent branch houses," the sale of which "was made either through Morris Packing Company, a corporation of Norway, or an individual salaried employee of the claimant," both of whom "always had strict instructions from the claimant to confine sales to Denmark, Scandinavian countries, and Russia, and not to sell to any other countries, owing to the fact that the claimant has agents in other countries, and it is essential that said agent's operations be strictly confined to his own district." Concerning the goods before the court, the affidavit states:

In the month of October, 1914, the claimant shipped on board the Norwegian steamship Alfred Nobel [the paragraphs in the affidavits relating to the other three steamships are identical] the goods particulars of which are set out in the schedule to this affidavit. The whole of said goods was shipped to order' Morris & Company, notify claimant's agent in Copenhagen (said agent being a native born citizen of the United States of America) for sale on consignment in the agent's own district in the ordinary course of business. The standing instructions to the agent that no sales were to be made outside the agent's district were never withdrawn by the claimant. No particulars or summaries of the quantities or character of the company's products shipped to Denmark for the years before the war are given, no reference is made to any German market to be supplied from Denmark, the name of the agent in Copenhagen is not disclosed and the formation of the Dansk Fedt Kompagnie is not alluded to. None of the original books of account, or other usual commercial documents which must have been kept by or for the agents in Copenhagen, were produced, although the court, on various occasions during the present war, has pointed out the importance of producing original documents fully and promptly when a claim is made. In the circumstances, the court regarded the affidavit as wholly insufficient. The claimants further failed to contradict or explain a statement, attributed to McCann

while on a visit to Hamburg, contained in a letter of November 25, 1914 produced by the Crown, "that the provisions on board of that steamer [the Alfred Nobel] would never be allowed to reach Copenhagen, because it was too opened-faced a case of the lard being intended for Germany to expect any other result." Counsel for claimants contended that portions of the cargoes were intended to supply the Scandinavian countries, which before the war were supplied through Hamburg, but admitted that the greater parts of the cargoes would ultimately have found their way into Germany. The goods which would reach Germany, he suggested, would supply the civil population, but the claimants and their Copenhagen representative failed to give any information as to the arrangements for sending the goods to Germany, or as to the consignees or ports in Germany to which they were to be sent.

ARMOUR & Co. before the war had a subsidiary company at Copenhagen acting as agents who, it is said, had always had strict instructions to confine their sales to Denmark, other Scandinavian countries, Finland, and Russia, and not to sell to any other countries, as the claimants had agents in other countries and the operations of each agent were to be strictly confined to his particular district; but the claimants' principal branch was at Frankfort, where their German business was carried on. No information was given by claimants as to what became of, or as to what was done at, the Frankfort branch after the war. Armour & Co. claim directly 7,819,003 lbs. of goods laden on the four ships, and their alleged vendees claim 1,870,943 lbs., making a total of 9,689,946 lbs. which was consigned to their agents at Copenhagen within one month. With the exception of comparatively small quantities of casings, canned beef and fat-backs, the shipments were all lard of various qualities. The average monthly quantity of lard exported from the United States to all Scandinavia in October and November, 1913, was 427,428 lbs., but in about three weeks, from October 20 to November 11, 1914, the company shipped to Copenhagen alone considerably over twenty times that quantity, and no evidence of what their imports of similar products into Germany were during the two or three years before the war was produced by the claimants.

They base their claim on the ground that the goods were their property as neutrals, shipped on neutral vessels and consigned to neutrals at a neutral port, and that the goods were not intended for sale to or use by or behalf of an enemy government, or the armed forces of an enemy. The main evidence in support of the claim was an affidavit common in form to the affidavit filed by Morris & Co. An additional statement is made that the S. S. Kim sailed from New York on November 10, 1914, before the claimants had knowledge of the Order in Council of October 29, 1914, “which was not received by the State Department at Washington until after the said vessel had sailed." The court found that the Order in Council had been notified to the American Ambassador on October 30, 1914, and was published in New York on November 2nd. A further affidavit contains the following statement concerning the company's shipments to Copenhagen after the outbreak of the war:

None of the goods shipped by Armour & Co. to the Copenhagen company subsequent to the outbreak of war were sold to the armed forces or to any government department of Germany or to any contractor for such armed forces or government department. About ninety per cent. of the goods were sold to firms who had been customers of the company and established in Denmark and Scandinavia for many years. These sales were all genuine sales, and payment was made against documents