#THE NAVAL AND AIRCRAFT PRIZE ACT, 1971 
___________ 

##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTION 
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SECTIONS 
1.  Short title. 
2.  Definitions. 
3.  Establishment of Prize Courts. 
4.  Jurisdiction of Prize Courts in prize cases. 
5.  Transfer of cases. 
6.  Appeals. 
7.  General powers of Prize Courts. 
8.  Procedure on capture of prize. 
9.  Ship and aircraft papers to be brought in Registry. 
10.  Goods. 
11.  Preemption. 
12.  Prize proceedings not to apply to enemy warships and military aircraft. 
13.  Capture to belong to Central Government. 
14.  Prize salvage. 
15.  Offences in respect of prize. 
16.  Indemnity against legal proceedings. 
17.  Power to make rules. 
18.  Dissolution of Prize Courts. 
19.  Repeals. 
20.  Savings. 



#THE NAVAL AND AIRCRAFT PRIZE ACT, 1971 

##ACT NO. 59 OF 1971 

[16th December, 1971.] 

An Act to provide for the establishment and procedure of Prize Courts and for matters connected 
  therewith or incidental thereto. 

  BE it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-second Year of the Republic of India as follows:— 

1. **Short title.**—This Act may be called the Naval and Aircraft Prize Act, 1971. 

2. **Definitions.**—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— 

  (a) “aircraft” has the meaning assigned to it in clause (ii) of section 4 of the Air Force 
Act, 1950 (45 of 1950); 

  (b) “aircraft papers” includes all books, passes, charter parties, bills of lading, customs receipts, 
manifests,  certificates,  licences,  lists,  tickets,  notes,  letters  and  other  documents  and  writings 
delivered up or found on board a captured aircraft; 

  (c) “Armed Forces” means the Army, Navy and Air Force or any part of any one or more of them 
and includes any other armed force in the service of, or employed with, the Army, Navy or Air Force 
during hostilities; 

  (d) “goods” includes all such things as may be subject to adjudication as prize, but in the case of a 
naval prize does not include any aircraft or boat unless the aircraft or boat is a part of the cargo of a 
ship; 

  (e) “Prize Court” means a prize court established under section 3; 

  (f) “Indian  citizen”  includes  a  company  registered  in  India  and  having  its  principal  place  of 
business in India; 

  (g) “military aircraft” means any aircraft belonging to the Armed Forces and includes any armed 
aircraft in the service of the Armed Forces and any other aircraft used as a transport or auxiliary or in 
any other way for the purpose of prosecuting or aiding hostilities; 

  (h) “prize”  means  anything  which,  subject  to  this  Act  and  the  rules  made  thereunder,  may  be 
subjected to adjudication and includes a ship or an aircraft and goods carried therein, irrespective of 
whether the ship is captured at sea or seized in port or whether the aircraft is on or over land or sea at 
the time of capture or seizure; 

  (i) “ship” includes a vessel and a boat with the tackle, furniture and apparel of the ship, vessel or 
boat; 

  (j) “ship-of-war” means any ship belonging to the Armed Forces and includes any armed ship in 
the service of the Armed Forces and any other ship used as transport or auxiliary or in any other way 
for the purpose of prosecuting or aiding hostilities; 

  (k) “ship  papers”  includes  all  books,  passes,  sea  briefs,  charter  parties,  bills  of  lading,  customs 
receipts, manifests, certificates, licences, lists, tickets, notes, letters and other documents and writings 
delivered up or found on board a ship captured at sea or seized in port. 

3. **Establishment of Prize Courts.**—(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official 
Gazette, constitute from time to time as many Prize Courts as the Central Government may determine to 
exercise the powers and discharge the functions  conferred on a Prize Court by this Act and every such 
Prize Court shall exercise jurisdiction within the local limits of such area or areas as may be specified by 
the Central Government in the said notification. 

(2) Every Prize Court shall consist of such one or more than one member as the Central Government 
may from time to time deem it necessary to appoint. 

(3) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a member of a Prize Court unless he is a citizen 
of India and has been or is qualified to be appointed as a Judge of a High Court. 

(4) Subject to the  provisions  of section  18,  the  conditions  of  service  of  a  member  of  a  Prize  Court 
shall be such as the Central Government may by order determine. 

4. **Jurisdiction of Prize Courts in prize cases.**—(1)  Notwithstanding  anything  contained  in  any 
other law for the time being in force, every Prize Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction in respect of each 
prize and each proceeding for the condemnation of property as prize, whether such prize is taken before 
or after the commencement of this Act, if the prize is— 

  (a) brought into or seized within the territory of India; 

  (b) brought  into  or  seized  within  a  locality  in  the  temporary  or  permanent  possession  of,  or 
occupied by, the Armed Forces of the Union; or 

  (c) appropriated for the use of the Central Government, 

and is brought within the territorial jurisdiction of that Prize Court: 

  Provided  that  in  the  case  of  a  Naval  prize,  the  Prize  Court  shall  have  jurisdiction  only  if  the  prize 
captured or seized is brought to a port or place lying within the territorial jurisdiction of that Prize Court. 

(2) Every Prize Court shall also have exclusive  jurisdiction in respect of a prize in which the prize 
property— 

  (a) is lost or entirely destroyed; or 

  (b) cannot be brought in for adjudication because of its nature and condition. 

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) , a Prize Court shall 
take cognizance of and judicially proceed upon all manners of captures, seizures,  prizes and reprisals of 
all ships, vessels, aircrafts and goods that are captured or seized, and shall hear and determine the same, 
and  in  accordance  with  this  Act  and rules  made  thereunder,  shall adjudge  and  condemn  all  such  ships, 
vessels, aircrafts and goods belonging to any country or State or the nationals, citizens or subjects thereof, 
as may be captured or seized as prize during a war or as a measure of reprisal during an armed conflict or 
in the exercise of the right of self-defence. 

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the Prize Court may in respect of any matter 
for which no provision or insufficient provision is made, by or under this Act, apply the principles of the 
International Law regulating that matter. 

5. **Transfer of cases.**—(1)  Where  proceedings  are  pending  in  any  Prize  Court  against  any  ship, 
aircraft or goods, the Prize Court may, at any stage of the proceedings, on application being made by the 
proper  officer  of  the  Central  Government and upon being satisfied that the proceedings so far as they 
relate to the ship, aircraft or goods, or any part thereof, would be more conveniently conducted in another 
Prize Court, make an order remitting the proceedings or the proceedings so far as they relate to the ship, 
aircraft or goods, or any part of the goods, as the case may be, to such other Prize Court. 

(2) Where any proceedings have been so remitted to another Prize Court, that other Prize Court shall 
have  the  same  jurisdiction  to  deal  with  the  matter  as  if  the  subject  matter  of  those  proceedings  had 
originally been seized within its jurisdiction or brought within its jurisdiction after capture or seizure, as 
the case may be, and any order made or action taken in those proceedings before the order of remission 
shall be deemed to have been made or taken by or in that Court. 

6. **Appeals.**—(1) Any person aggrieved by an order or decree of the Prize Court may prefer an appeal 
to the Central Government within a period of ninety days from the date on which such order or decree has 
been made. 

(2) The provisions of sections 5 and 12 of the Limitation Act, 1963 (36 of 1963), shall so far as may 
be, apply for computation of the period specified in sub-section (1). 

7. **General powers of Prize Courts.**—(1) A Prize Court shall, for the purposes of this Act, have the 
same powers as are vested in a Civil Court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil   Procedure, 1908 
(5 of 1908), in respect of the following matters, namely:— 

  (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of persons and examining them on oath; 

  (b) requiring the discovery and production of documents; 

  (c) receiving evidence on affidavits; 

  (d) requisitioning any public record or copies thereof from any court or office; 

  (e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents; 

  (f) any other matter which may be prescribed by rules. 

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), every Prize Court shall have the power to 
enforce— 

  (a) any order or decree of another Prize Court passed in a prize proceeding under this Act; 

  (b) any order of the Central Government passed in a prize appeal under section 6. 

8. **Procedure on capture of prize.**—(1) Every ship and every aircraft taken as prize and brought into 
port or to a place within the jurisdiction of a Prize Court shall forthwith and without bulk broken, be 
delivered to the Marshal of the Court. 

(2) If  there  is  no  such  Marshal  then  the  ship  or  aircraft  shall  be  in  like  manner  delivered  to  such 
person as the Central Government may appoint in this behalf. 

(3) The ship or aircraft shall, subject to the orders of the Court, remain in the custody of the Marshal, 
or the person appointed under sub-section (2). 

9. **Ship and aircraft papers to be brought in Registry.**—(1) The captors shall with all convenient 
speed after the ship or aircraft is brought into port or to a place within the jurisdiction of a Prize Court 
bring the ship papers or the aircraft papers, as the case may be, into the Registry of the Prize Court. 

(2) The commanding officer or the captain of the capturing ship or aircraft or the commanding officer 
of the capturing force, or any other officer or person seizing the ship or aircraft at any port or aerodrome 
or any officer designated by the commanding officer or his superior authority as a Prize Officer or such 
other officer or person who was present at the capture and saw the ship papers or aircraft papers delivered 
up or found on board shall make oath that they are brought in as they were taken without fraud, addition, 
or  subduction  or  alteration  or  else  shall  account  on  oath  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Prize  Court  for  the 
absence or altered condition of the ship papers or aircraft papers or any of them. 

(3) Where no ship papers or aircraft papers are delivered up or found on board the captured ship or 
captured  aircraft,  the  commanding  officer  or  the  captain  of  the  capturing  ship  or  aircraft  or  the 
commanding officer of the capturing force or any other officer or person seizing the ship or aircraft or the 
Prize Officer or such other officer or person who was present at the capture shall make an oath to that 
effect. 

10. **Goods.**—The provisions of sections 8 and 9 relating to ships and aircraft shall, so far as may be, 
extend and apply to goods taken as prize on board a ship or aircraft and the Prize Court may direct such 
goods to be unladen, inventoried and warehoused. 

11. **Preemption.**—Where a ship of a foreign State passing the seas or an aircraft of a foreign State, 
laden with military or victualling stores intended to be carried to any place under the control of an enemy 
is taken in circumstances making it subject to adjudication as prize, and is brought under the control of 
the  Government  of  India,  and  the  purchase  of  such  stores  for  the  service  of  the  Central  Government 
appears  to  the  said  Government  expedient  without  the  condemnation  thereof in  a  Prize  Court,  then  the 
Central Government may purchase on account or for the service of the Central Government all or any of 
such stores. 

12. **Prize proceedings not to apply to enemy warships and military aircraft.**—Nothing in this Act 
shall apply to a ship-of-war or military aircraft of the enemy or any other ship or aircraft owned by the 
enemy whether or not registered in the territory of the enemy or goods carried therein and no proceedings 
of prize shall be necessary for the condemnation of such ship-of-war or military aircraft or other ship or 
aircraft or goods carried therein. 

13. **Capture to belong to Central Government.**—(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), all 
prizes  captured  by  the  Armed  Forces  of the  Union and  condemned  where  necessary  in  the  Prize  Court 
shall be the exclusive property of the Central Government. 

(2) The Central Government may, at its discretion, out of the proceeds of the prize, make a grant of 
such sum of money as it deems fit to the benevolent funds of the Armed Forces of the Union. 

14. **Prize salvage.**—(1)  Where  any  ship  or  goods  or  aircraft  belonging  to  an  Indian  citizen,  after 
being taken as prize by the enemy is or are retaken from the enemy, the same shall be restored by decree 
of a Prize Court to the owner on his paying to the Central Government as prize salvage one-eighth part of 
the  value  of  the  prize  to  be  decreed  and  ascertained  by  the  Prize  Court  or  such  sum  not  exceeding 
one-eighth  part  of  the  estimated  value  of  the  prize  as  may  be  agreed  upon  between  the  owner  and  the 
Central Government and approved by the order of the Prize Court: 

  Provided that where the recapture is made in the circumstances of special difficulty or danger, the 
Prize  Court  may  if  it  thinks  fit  award  to  the  Central  Government  as  prize  salvage  a  larger  part  than 
one-eighth but not exceeding in any case one-fourth part of the value of the prize: 

  Provided further that where a ship or aircraft after being so taken is set forth or used by the enemy as 
a ship-of-war or military aircraft, the aforesaid provision for restitution shall not apply and subject to such 
compensation to the owner as the Prize Court may determine, the ownership of such ship or aircraft shall 
vest in the Central Government. 

(2) Where  a  ship  belonging  to  any  Indian  citizen,  after  being  taken  as  prize,  is  retaken  from  the 
enemy,  such  ship  may,  with  the  consent  of  the  recaptors,  prosecute  her  voyage  and  it  will  not  be 
necessary for the Central Government to proceed to adjudication till her return to a port in India. 

(3) The master or owner of the ship or his agent may, with the consent of the Central Government, 
unload and dispose of the goods on board the ship before adjudication. 

(4) In case the ship does not return within six months to a port in India, the Central Government may 
nevertheless  institute  proceedings  against  the  ship  or  goods  in  a  Prize  Court  and  the  Prize  Court  may 
thereupon award prize salvage as aforesaid and may enforce payment thereof. 

(5) The  provisions  of  sub-sections  (2),  (3)  and  (4)  shall  mutatis  mutandis  apply  also  to  an  aircraft 
belonging to any Indian citizen which, after being taken as prize, is retaken from the enemy. 

15. **Offences in respect of prize.**—Every person who is guilty of a prize offence, that is to say, an 
offence  which  if  committed  by  a  person  subject  to  naval  law  would  be  punishable  under  section  63, 
section  64, section  65,  section  66  or  section 67  of  the  Navy  Act,  1957 (62  of  1957), shall  be  punished 
with imprisonment which may extend to two years or with fine or both. 

16. **Indemnity against legal proceedings.**—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law 
for the time being in force, no suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against any officer of 
the Armed Forces of the Union or any other person for anything which is in good faith done or intended 
to be done in pursuance of this Act or any rules made thereunder. 

(2) Save as otherwise expressly provided under this Act, no suit or other legal proceedings shall lie 
against the Central Government for any damage caused or likely to be caused by anything in good faith 
done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any rules made thereunder. 

17. **Power to make rules.**—(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, 
make rules for regulating the practice and procedure of a Prize Court and for generally carrying out the 
purposes of this Act. 

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any 
of the following matters, namely:— 

  (a) the institution of cases, issue and service of writs, summons and other processes, and entering 
appearance and making of claims; 

  (b) affidavits concerning ship papers or aircraft papers and other affidavits to be or which may be 
made in a Prize Court or for the purpose of proceedings in a Prize Court; 

  (c) pleadings, particulars, discovery and inspection of documents and facts, evidence and hearing; 

  (d) issue of warrants for arrest of prize, and detention of prize; 

  (e) sale, appraisement, safe custody and inspection of prize; 

  (f) bail and release; 

  (g) requisition by Central Government of ships, aircraft or goods in the custody of a Prize Court; 

  (h) appointment of assessors and their fees; 

  (i) enforcement and execution of decrees and orders; 

  (j) stay of proceedings; 

  (k) costs of or incidental to any proceedings in the Prize Court and as to the fees to be charged in 
respect of proceedings therein and as to the taking of security of costs; 

  (l) procedure for hearing appeals and other matters pertaining to appeals; 

  (m) appointment,  duties  and  conduct  of  the  officers  of  a  Prize  Court  and  costs,  charges  and 
expenses to be allowed to petitioners therein; 

  (n) the manner in which and the conditions subject to which the right of visit, search, detention or 
capture of any ship  or aircraft or goods thereon may  be exercised and the penalty for impeding the 
exercise of any such right; 

  (o) the manner in which any such ship or aircraft or goods seized by or under the authority of any 
officer of the Armed Forces of the Union shall be kept in custody or disposed of; 

  (p) the conditions for declaring any ship or aircraft or cargo thereon as hostile and for 
condemnation thereof; 

  (q) the manner in which a ship or aircraft recaptured from the enemy may be disposed of; 

  (r) the  conditions  subject  to  which  a  right  of  unhindered  passage  may  be  allowed  to  a  ship  or 
aircraft within the territory of India on the outbreak of hostilities or an armed conflict on the basis of 
reciprocity; 

  (s) any other matter which may be, or is required to be, prescribed by rules. 

(3) All rules made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be, after they are made, before each 
house of Parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days, which may be comprised in one 
or [^1][in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the 
session or the successive sessions aforesaid] both Houses agree in making any modification in the rules or 
both Houses agree that the rules should not be made, the rules shall  thereafter have effect only in such 
modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so however that any such modification or annulment 
shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under those rules. 

18. **Dissolution of Prize Courts.**—The Central Government may at any time when there is no prize 
proceeding pending before a Prize Court dissolve that Prize Court, and make such further orders as to the 
custody of the records of that Court as may be considered necessary. 

[^1]. Subs. by Act 20 of 1983, s. 2, for certain words (w.e.f. 5-3-1984). 



19. **Repeals.**—The Naval Prize Act, 1864, the Naval Agency and Distribution Act, 1864, the Prize 
Courts  Act,  1894,  the  Prize  Courts  Procedure  Act,  1914,  the  Prize  Courts  Act,  1915,  the  Naval  Prize 
Act, 1918, the Prize Act, 1939, in so far as they apply in India are hereby repealed. 

20. **Savings.**—Nothing in this Act shall— 

  (a) give to the officers and seamen of the Indian Naval ships or officers and airmen of the Indian 
Military aircraft or to any other person concerned in the capture of the prize any right or claim in or to 
any ships, aircraft or goods taken as prize or the proceeds thereof; or 

  (b) affect the operation of any existing treaty or convention with any foreign State; or 

  (c) take away or abridge the powers of the Central Government to enter into any treaty or 
convention with any foreign State containing any stipulation that the Central Government may deem 
appropriate concerning any matter to which this Act relates.