Vickipedia

PRIZE-COURT is a court which adjudicates the property in vessels captured at sea from a belligerent; and the rule is, that when a captor brings home a prize, the tribunal of his own country has jurisdiction to declare whether he is entitled to it, which decision is binding everywhere. A prize-court differs from other courts in this, that the property of foreigners is brought within its jurisdiction, not by consent, as is implied with regard to the ordinary municipal courts, but by force. By natural law, one would suppose that the tribunals of the captor’s country are no more the rightful exclusive judges of captures in war, made on the high seas, from under the neutral flag, than are the tribunals of the neutral country. Nevertheless, such is the rule of international law, which vests the jurisdiction in the prize-court. In Britain, the court is created by commission under the Great Seal, and the judge of the Admiralty Court is usually appointed. Lord Stowell was the judge during the French war, and, during the time he sat as judge, delivered many important judgments in this difficult branch of the law.