The Obsolete Right of Angary.
§ 364. Under the term jus angariae[722] many writers on International Law place the right, often claimed and practised in former times, of a belligerent deficient in vessels to lay an embargo on and seize neutral merchantmen in his harbours, and to compel them and their crews to transport troops, ammunition, and provisions to certain places on payment of freight in advance.[723] This practice arose in the Middle Ages,[724] and was made much use of by Louis XIV. of France. To save the vessels of their subjects from seizure under the right of angary, States began in the seventeenth century to conclude treaties by which they renounced such right with regard to each other's vessels. Thereby the right came into disuse during the eighteenth century. Many writers[725] assert, nevertheless, that it is not obsolete, and might be exercised even to-day. But I doubt whether the Powers would concede to one another the exercise of such a right. The facts that no case happened in the nineteenth century and that International Law with regard to rights and duties of neutrals has become much more developed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, would seem to justify the opinion that such angary is now probably obsolete,[726] although some writers[727] deny this.
[722] The term angaria, which in medieval Latin means post station, is a derivation from the Greek term ἄγγαρος for messenger. Jus angariae would therefore literally mean a right of transport.
[724] On the origin and development of the jus angariae, see Albrecht, op. cit. pp. 24-37.
[725] See, for instance, Phillimore, III. § 29; Calvo, III. § 1277; Heffter, § 150; Perels, § 40.
[726] See Article 39 of the "Règlement sur le régime légal des navires ... dans les ports étrangers" adopted by the Institute of International Law (Annuaire, XVII. 1898, p. 272): "Le droit d'angarie est supprimé, soit en temps de paix, soit en temps de guerre, quant aux navires neutres."
[727] See Albrecht, op. cit. pp. 34-37.
The Modern Right of Angary.
§ 365. In contradistinction to this probably obsolete right to compel neutral ships and their crews to render certain services, the modern right of angary consists in the right of belligerents to make use of, or destroy in case of necessity, for the purpose of offence and defence, neutral property on their own or on enemy territory or on the Open Sea. In case property of subjects of neutral States is vested with enemy character,[728] it is not neutral property in the strict sense of the term neutral, and all rules respecting appropriation, utilisation, and destruction of enemy property obviously apply to it. The object of the right of angary is such property of subjects of neutral States as retains its neutral character from its temporary position on belligerent territory and which therefore is not vested with enemy character. All sorts of neutral property, whether it consists of vessels or other[729] means of transport, or arms, ammunition, provisions, or other personal property, may be the object of the right of angary, provided the articles concerned are serviceable to military ends and wants. The conditions under which the right may be exercised are the same as those under which private enemy property may be utilised or destroyed, but in every case the neutral owner must be fully indemnified.[730]