The Laws of War, Affecting Commerce and Shipping | Page 8

his own Government for the special importation
of the article; it is indeed the only safe way in which parties can
proceed.[26]
[Sidenote: Subjects of an Ally may not trade with the Enemy.]
During a Conjoint War no Subject of an Ally can trade with the
common enemy without liability to forfeiture in the prize courts of the
Ally, of all his property engaged in such trade. As the former rule can
be relaxed only by permission of the Sovran power of the state, so this
can be relaxed only by the permission of the allied nations, according
to their mutual consent.[27]
[Sidenote: Contracts void.]
On similar principles, all Contracts made with the Enemy during War
are utterly void. This applies to Insurances on the enemy's property and
trade; to the drawing and negociation of Bills of Exchange, whether the
subject of this country or of the alien enemy be the acceptor; to the
sending of Money or Bills to the enemy's country; to Commercial
Partnerships. All endeavours to trade by third persons are equally
illegal.[28]
Thus also all Contracts made in contemplation of War, and which never
could have existed at all, but as an insurance against the pressure of war,
and with a view to evade the rights that arise out of war, and in fraud of
the belligerent, are illegal, even though made by neutrals.[29]
[Sidenote: Insurances.]
The municipal or common law of every state declares all Insurances to
be void, by which ships or merchandize of the enemy are sought to be

protected. Also all Insurances by or on behalf of alien enemies are
wholly illegal and void, although effected before the breaking out of
hostilities; but if both the policy had been effected and the loss accrued
before the war, the remedy is only suspended during the war.
The general principle is that the contract of assurance is vacated and
annulled _ab initio_; wherever an insurance is made on a voyage
expressly prohibited by the common, statute, or maritime law of the
country; the policy is of no effect.[30]
Thus, if a ship, though neutral, be insured on a voyage prohibited by an
embargo laid on in time of war, by the prince of the country in whose
ports the ships happen to be, such an insurance is void.[31]
Similarly, all Insurances to protect the interests of British subjects
trading without licence with the enemy are absolutely void.[32]
So also, if a Licence is not strictly pursued, so that the voyage becomes
illegal, the insurance is void.[33]
I have said that all Insurances will be void which are designed to
protect voyages or trading to hostile ports. But, for this purpose, it must
be clearly made out, not only that the port into which the ship sails is
hostile, but also, that she was bound with a distinct hostile destination
at the time of loss. Thus a policy to "ports in the Baltic," is legal, as
some may be hostile, and some not, and it is not certain that she was
sailing to a hostile port.
The general principle by which the validity of a policy is to be tested, is
by the voyage, that it is a voyage prohibited by law, on some ground of
public policy. The will, therefore, of the parties is of no account, as the
prohibition is for public, and not private benefit. So that if the
underwriter is told that the voyage is illicit he is not more bound than if
he were not told so.[34]
It is Insurances upon voyages generally prohibited by law, such as to an
enemy's garrison, or upon a voyage directly contrary to an express act
of parliament, or to royal proclamation in time of War, that are
absolutely void and null;--therefore, on neutral vessels, or the vessels of
British subjects possessing neutral rights and sailing from neutral ports
to enemies ports are not void.[35]
Similarly, with respect to Insurances on neutral vessels carrying
_contraband goods_, for it is not the voyage, but the cargo, that is
illegal in that case.[36]

Insurances are good on Neutral Vessels engaged in the Colonial Trade
of the Enemy, and which was closed to the Neutral in time of peace,[37]
It must be observed, that if a voyage is illegal, and voids the policy for
that voyage, it does not follow that it voids the voyage in the opposite
direction, and even the goods purchased by the proceeds of a former
illegal voyage, may be the subject of Insurance.[38]
[Sidenote: Bills of Exchange drawn during War.]
It has been stated above that all Bills drawn or negociated with the
enemy, whether a British subject or the alien enemy be the acceptor,
are null and void; during the last war, however, attempts were often
made to draw and negociate bills that