A note on unneutral service

Abstract

THE term ''unneutral service" is the official translation of the heading "L 'assistance hostile", which appears in the unratified Declaration of London; and 'hostile assistance" is the more current expression on the Continent. Another term in use before the Declaration was "analogues of contraband" with which it was often confused. But it is now generally recognized that acts of unneautral service are different from the carriage of contraband. For one thing, destination is immaterial in cases of unneutral service. In the carriage of contraband unless a hostile destination is established by the captor. Again, in unneutral service direct assistance is given to the enemy and consequently such service assumes a warlike character. Carriage of contraband, on the other hand, is properly a mercantile transaction and is no crime against International Law though such contraband, if captured while the vessel is in delicto, is liable to confiscation by the Municipal Prize Courts of the captor.