Mare Liberum: The Freedom of the Seas (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from Mare Liberum: The Freedom of the Seas

In the second place Britain proposed the total aboli tion of contraband, mainly because in modern warfare it is practically impossible to decide what are and what are not munitions of war. The result of this proposal, had it been adopted, would have been that neutral vessels would have been absolutely safe from confisca tion, as well as from destruction, in all cases except where they attempted to force an effective blockade. Even if they were engaged exclusively in carrying on trade for the enemy, they might lose the enemy cargoes, by the decision of a prize-court, but their ships would be safe. Germany showed herself as hostile to this restriction as to the others. She insisted upon the maintenance of contraband, that is to say, upon the maintenance of a pretext for destroying neutral vessels, and received here the support of America. Once more Britain was the advocate, Germany the enemy, of the removal of restrictions on neutral trade in time of war.

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Excerpt from Mare Liberum: The Freedom of the Seas

So much has been, and is being, said and written about the freedom of the seas, especially in Germany and America, that it is worth while to consider what various meanings the phrase may bear, and what has already been done or attempted towards establishing and maintaining this freedom for the world.

The freedom of the seas obviously means the right of the peaceful merchant vessels of all nations to go to and fro upon the seas of the world, free from all perils or restrictions save those of the winds and the waves. It rests upon the doctrine of international law which asserts that, outside territorial waters, the seas are the property of no State, but equally open to all. It may be infringed in either of two ways - either by the assertion of monopoly or the imposition of restrictions by a strong naval power, or by the violence and disorder of piracy. In order to ensure it, both of these dangers must be guarded against: naval power must not be allowed to fall into hands that will abuse it; and the seas of the world must be, somehow or other, efficiently policed.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.