"I apprehend that the tender becomes as has been contended in law a part of the ship to which she has been attached and that any capture made by her enures to the benefit of the ship to which the tender is an adjunct."[13] Tenders are usually non-commissioned vessels but as they are considered agents of a commissioned vessel their captures are good. The same is true of captures made by ships boats but no constructive captures are allowed by boats of other vessels in sight.
Transport vessels do not participate as joint captors. A case involving transports arose in 1799. The court said:
"It has not been shown that these ships set out in an originally military character, or that any military character has been subsequently impressed upon them by the nature and course of their employment and therefore, however meritorious their services may have been and however entitled they may be to the gratitude of their country it will not entitle them to share in this valuable capture."[14]
The division of captures made by joint naval and military expedition are under the jurisdiction of prize courts. So far as possible the same principles of division are employed in dividing proceeds among soldiers of the army as in dividing prize money in the navy. In regard to the conditions that permit a joint land expedition to share the court said in 1799:
"Much more is necessary than a mere being to sight to entitle an army to share jointly with the navy in the capture of an enemy's fleet". A common interest is presumed with naval vessels in sight, not so with the army. "The services must be such as were directly or materially influencing the capture so that the capture could not have been made without such assistance or at least not certainly and without great hazard."[15] The prize act of 1864 now governs the division in joint military and naval captures.[16]
Captures made by non-commissioned ships which now includes all vessels not part of the royal navy go to the government.[17] Such captures were originally one of the Droits of Admiralty[18] but since the office of admiral has been in commission they enure to the crown. Peculiarly enough, though all such forfeitures now go to the crown the technical distinction of condemnation to the king, jure coronae and condemnation to the king in his office of admiralty. Droits of Admiralty is still maintained in the decrees of prize courts. By statute[19] all such Droits of Admiralty and Jure Coronae are now put into the consolidated fund of Great Britain. In practice it has usually happened that the greater part of the proceeds of captures made by non-commissioned captors is given to the captor as a special reward.[20] For this it appears that England does not recognize an international obligation to prevent captures by non-commissioned vessels in time of war. It is hard to reconcile this attitude with her adoption of the Declaration of Paris in 1856. She does not of course issue letters of Marque or officially permit capture by any vessels other than those of the royal navy. England has not been engaged in any important naval war since the treaty of Paris so it is impossible to say exactly what her practice in this regard would be. Legally all rights in captures by non-commissioned captors enure to the crown so if such vessels infringed on neutral rights England would undoubtedly refuse to give them any reward, which would soon have the effect of stopping such captures.
Definite rules are prescribed for the conduct of prizes, as for instance, the cargoes must not be tampered with, the holds must be closed, all necessary papers must be presented with the prize, the prize must be brought in without delay and proceedings must be commenced in the prize court without unreasonable delay.[21]
"It is to be observed that the captors have no right to convert property till it has been brought to legal adjudication. They are not even to break bulk."[22]
"The captor holds but an imperfect right; the property may turn out to belong to others, and if the captor put it in an improper place or keeps it with too little attention he must be liable to the consequences if the goods are not kept with the same caution with which a prudent person would keep his own property."[23]