The International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration acts as Registry of the International Prize Court and must place its offices and staff at the disposal of the Court. This Bureau has the custody of the archives and carries out the administrative work, and its General Secretary acts as Registrar of the International Prize Court. The secretaries necessary to assist the Registrar, translators, and shorthand writers are appointed by the International Prize Court (article 23).
Agents, Counsel, Advocates, and Attorneys.
§ 445. Belligerent as well as neutral Powers concerned in a case may appoint special Agents to act as intermediaries between themselves and the International Prize Court, and they may also engage Counsel or Advocates to defend their rights and interests (article 25).
Private individuals concerned in a case are compelled to be represented before the Court by an Attorney, who must either be an Advocate qualified to plead before a Court of Appeal or a High Court of one of the contracting States, or a lawyer practising before a similar Court, or, lastly, a Professor of Law at one of the higher teaching centres of those countries (article 26).
Competence.
§ 446. The general principle underlying the rules of Convention XII. concerning the competence of the International Prize Court is that on the whole, although not exclusively, the Court is competent in cases where neutrals are directly or indirectly concerned. The International Prize Court is, as a rule, a Court of Appeal, all prize cases must, in the first instance, be decided by a National Prize Court of the captor, although the Municipal Law of the country concerned may provide that a first appeal must likewise be decided by a National Prize Court. The second appeal may never by decided by a National, but must always be decided by the International Prize Court. However, should the National Court of the First Instance or the National Court of Appeal fail to give final judgment within two years from the date of capture, the case may be carried direct to the International Prize Court (articles 2 and 6).
An appeal against the judgments of National Prize Courts may be brought before the International Court: (1) when the judgment concerns the property of a neutral Power or a neutral individual;[940] (2) when the judgment concerns enemy property and relates to (a) cargo on board a neutral vessel, (b) an enemy vessel captured in the territorial waters of a neutral Power, provided such Power has not made the capture the subject of diplomatic claim, and (c) a claim based upon the allegation that the seizure has been effected in violation, either of the provisions of a convention in force between the belligerent Powers, or of an enactment issued by the belligerent captor. In any case, the appeal may be based on the ground that the judgment was wrong either in fact or in law (article 3).
[940] Since the question of enemy or neutral character of individuals—see above, § [88]—is for some parts controversial, the International Prize Court would have to decide the controversy.
The following Powers and individuals are entitled[941] to bring an appeal before the International Prize Court:—
(1) Neutral Powers, if the judgment injuriously affects their property or the property of their subjects, or if the capture is alleged to have taken place in the territorial waters of such Powers (article 4, No. 1).