Law 704. The duties of prize commisioners are set out in Title 34, U.S.C., Section 1138, which reads as follows: "S 1138. Duties of prize commissioners. The prize commissioners, or one of them, shall receive from the prize master the documents and papers, and inventory thereof, and shall take the affidavit of the prize master required by section 1134 of this title, and shall forthwith take the testimony of the witnesses sent in, separate from each other, on interrogatories prescribed by the court, in the manner usual in prize courts; and the witnesses shall not be permitted to see the interrogatories, documents, or papers, or to consult with counsel, or with any persons interested without special authority from the court; and witnesses who have the rights of neutrals shall be discharged as soon as practicable. The prize commissioners shall also take depositions de bene esse of the prize crew and others, at the request of the district attorney, on interrogatories prescribed by the court. They shall also, as soon as any prize property comes within the district for adjudication, examine the same, and make an inventory thereof, founded on an actual examination, and report to the court whether any part of it is in a condition requiring immediate sale for the interests of all parties, and notify the district attorney thereof; and if it be necessary to the examination or making of the inventory that the cargo be unladen, they shall apply to the court for an order to the marshal to unlade the same, and shall, from time to time, report to the court anything relating to the condition of the property, or its custody or disposal, which may require any action by the court, but the custody of the property shall be in the marshal only. They shall also seasonably return into court, sealed and secured from inspection, the documents and papers which shall come to their hands, duly scheduled and numbered, and the other preparatory evidence, and the evidence taken de bene esse, and their own inventory of the prize property; and if the captured vessel, or any of its cargo or stores, are such as in their judgment may be useful to the United States in war, they shall report the same to the Secretary of the Navy." My Government, upon the receipt from the Government of India of the consent required by Section 3 of Public Law 704, will take appropriate measures in accordance with Section 7 of the same Act to confer reciprocal privileges upon the Government of India with respect to prizes. I shall be grateful if you will inform the Government of India of my Government's desire and request, on my Government's behalf, the necessary consent to the exercise of such powers by United States courts and by special prize commissioners appointed by them within the territorial jurisdiction of the Government of India. Accept, Sir, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration. For the Ambassador: H. FREEMAN MATTHEWS, Minister-Counselor. Enclosure-cited. The Right Honorable ANTHONY EDEN, M.C., M.P., Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the American Ambassador No. W 13056/3214/49 YOUR EXCELLENCY, FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W. 1. 24th September, 1943 With reference to Your Excellency's note No. 2719 of the 10th June last, I have the honour to inform you that the Government of India agree to the proposal of the United States Government whereby the courts of the United States shall be permitted to exercise jurisdiction over prizes taken by the United States armed forces and brought into the territorial jurisdiction of the Government of India. 2. It is understood that the United States Government will take appropriate measures to confer reciprocal privileges upon the Government of India. I have the honour to be, with the highest consideration, Your Excellency's obedient Servant, (For the Secretary of State) J. H. Le ROUGEtel His Excellency The Honourable JOHN G. WINANT, etc., etc., etc., 1, Grosvenor Square, W.1. UNITED STATES PROCLAMATION * CAPTURE OF PRIZES BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION WHEREAS the act of August 18, 1942, 56 Stat. 746, contains in part the following provisions: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all prizes captured during the present war on the high seas if said capture was made by authority of the United States or was adopted and ratified by the President of the United States and the prize was brought into the territorial waters of a cobelligerent or was taken or appropriated for the use of the United States on the high seas or in such territorial waters, including jurisdiction of all proceedings for the condemnation of such property taken as prize. "Sec. 3. The jurisdiction of prizes brought into the territorial waters of a cobelligerent shall not be exercised under authority of this Act, nor shall prizes be taken or appropriated within such territorial waters for the use of the United States, unless the government having jurisdiction over such territorial waters consents to the exercise of such jurisdiction or to such taking or appropriation. "Sec. 7. A cobelligerent of the United States which consents to the exercise of the jurisdiction herein conferred with respect to prizes of the United States brought into its territorial waters and to the taking or appropriation of such prizes within its territorial waters for the use of the United States shall be accorded, upon proclamation by the President of the United States, like privileges with respect to prizes captured under authority of such cobelligerent and brought into the territorial waters of the United States or taken or appropriated in the territorial waters of the United States for the use of such cobelligerent. Reciprocal recognition and full faith and credit shall be given to the jurisdiction acquired by courts of a cobelligerent hereunder and to all proceedings had or judgments rendered in exercise of such jurisdiction." WHEREAS the Government of India, a cobelligerent, has consented to the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred by the said act with respect to prizes of 57 Stat. 729. the United States brought into the territorial waters of India and to the taking or appropriation of such prizes within the territorial waters of India for the use of the United States: NOW, THEREFORE, I, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the said act of August 18, 1942, do proclaim that the Government of India shall be accorded like privileges with respect to prizes captured under authority of the said Government and brought into the territorial waters of the United States or taken or appropriated in the territorial waters of the United States for the use of the said Government. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed. DONE at the city of Washington this 28th day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-three, and of the independ[SEAL] ence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-eighth. By the President CORDELL HULL FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT Secretary of State COPYRIGHT Exchange of notes at Washington March 10, 1944, with British Order in Council and proclamation by the President of the United States Entered into force March 10, 1944 Terminated December 29, 1950, by proclamation of May 26, 1950,1 and exchange of notes of July 26, 1950 2 2 The attention of His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has been invited to the Act of Congress of the United States of America approved 25th September, 1941,3 which provides for extending, on a reciprocal basis, the time for the fulfilment of the conditions and formalities prescribed by the copyright laws of the United States in the case of authors or proprietors of works first produced or published abroad who are temporarily unable to comply with those conditions and formalities because of the disruption or suspension of the facilities essential for their compliance. By direction of Mr. Eden, I write to inform you that, by reason of the existing emergency, British authors and copyright proprietors of certain of His Majesty's dominions, colonies and possessions and citizens of Palestine (excluding Trans-Jordan) do at present lack, and since the outbreak of the war between the United Kingdom and Germany on September 3rd, 1939, have lacked the facilities essential to compliance with and to the fulfilment of the conditions and formalities established by the laws of the United States relating to copyright. It is the desire of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom that, in accordance with the procedure provided in the said Act of September 25th, 1941, the time for fulfilling the conditions and formalities of the copyright |