Editing International Prize Court

{{Short description|Proposed international court}}
The '''International Prize Court''' was an [[international judicial institutions|international court]] proposed at the beginning of the 20th century, to hear [[prize court|prize cases]]. An international agreement to create it, the ''Convention Relative to the Creation of an International Prize Court'', was made at the [[Second Hague Conference]] in 1907 but never came into force.

The capturing of [[Prize (law)|prizes]] (enemy equipment, vehicles, and especially ships) during wartime is a tradition that goes back as far as organized warfare itself. The International Prize Court was to hear [[appellate court|appeals]] from national courts concerning prize cases. Even as a draft, the convention was innovative for the time, in being both the first ever treaty for a truly international court (as opposed to a mere [[arbitral tribunal]]), and in providing individuals with [[locus standi|access to the court]], going against the prevailing doctrines of [[international law]] at the time, according to which only states had rights and duties under international law. The convention was opposed, particularly by elements within the [[United States]] and the [[United Kingdom]], as a violation of [[national sovereignty]].

The 1907 convention was modified by the ''Additional Protocol to the Convention Relative to the Creation of an International Prize Court'', done at the Hague on October 18, 1910. The protocol was an attempt to resolve some concerns expressed by the United States at the court, which felt it to be in violation of [[United States Constitution|its constitutional]] provision that provides for the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] being the final judicial authority. However, neither the convention nor the subsequent protocol ever entered into force, since only [[Nicaragua]] ratified the agreements. As a result, the court never came into existence.

On February 15, 1911, the U.S. Senate ratified the International Prize Court Convention.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Scott |first=James Brown |date=1911 |title=The International Court of Prize |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/abs/international-court-of-prize/47E8540973E757644C7ABCEFBA261FF4 |journal=American Journal of International Law |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=302–324 |doi=10.2307/2186721 |issn=0002-9300|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

A number of ideas from the International Prize Court proposal can be seen in present-day international courts, such as its provision for judges ''[[ad hoc]]'', later adopted in the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]] and the subsequent [[International Court of Justice]].

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
'''Primary:'''
* {{cite web|url=http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/1907k.htm|title=Hague Convention XIII -Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War: 18 October 1907, 36 Stat. 2415, 1 Bevans 723, 205 Consol. T.S. 395, 3 Martens Nouveau Recueil 713 (ser. 3), entered into force Jan. 26, 1910.|work=University of Minnesota Human Rights Library|publisher=[[University of Minnesota]]|access-date=14 September 2017}}
* {{cite web|url=https://verdragenbank.overheid.nl/en/Verdrag/Details/003327|title=Convention relative to the establishment of an International Prize Court|work=Treaty Database|publisher=Government of the Netherlands|language=en|access-date=14 September 2017}}

'''Secondary:'''
* {{cite book| last= Hudson| first= Manley O.|author-link= Manley O. Hudson| title= The Permanent Court of International Justice 1920–1942| type= A Treatise|date=June 1943| publisher= [[The Macmillan Company]]| location= New York| pages= 71–79| chapter= Chapter 4. The Proposed International Prize Court}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last1=Brown|first1=Henry B.|date=July 1908|title= The Proposed International Prize Court|journal= American Journal of International Law|volume= 2|issue= 3|pages= 476–89|publisher= American Society of International Law|doi= 10.2307/2186326|jstor=2186326}}

[[Category:Prize warfare]]
[[Category:Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907]]