The seizure of certain classes of
foodstuffs as of a contraband character did not of necessity involve the
principle of treating all foodstuffs as contraband of war. The English
view was that it had long been recognized that a belligerent might
discriminate between foodstuffs obviously intended for the commissariat
of an army in the field and foodstuffs which might be properly imported
for the use of the non-combatant population.
The consensus of opinion, however, seems to be that while there may be
reasonable ground for including tinned or canned meats and the like in
the former category, flour naturally belongs to the latter class, and it
has been pointed out that neither the British Government nor any other
has the power of treating what it pleases as contraband without
reference to the prize court, with which alone the decision rests. The
prize courts of all countries have held at different times that
foodstuffs under certain circumstances are contraband, as, for instance,
where they are intended for the supply of a belligerent garrison as well
as in less obvious cases, but any decision which considered foodstuffs
generally as contraband would be disquieting to all neutral interests.
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