
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 10USC7663]

 
                         TITLE 10--ARMED FORCES
 
                    Subtitle C--Navy and Marine Corps
 
                     PART IV--GENERAL ADMINISTRATION
 
                           CHAPTER 655--PRIZE
 
Sec. 7663. Prize property appropriated for the use of the United 
        States
        
    (a) Any officer or agency designated by the President may 
appropriate for the use of the United States any captured vessel, arms, 
munitions, or other material taken as prize. The department or agency 
for whose use the prize property is appropriated shall deposit the value 
of the property with the Treasurer of the United States or with the 
public depositary nearest to the court in which the proceedings are to 
be had, subject to the orders of the court.
    (b) Whenever any captured vessel, arms, munitions, or other material 
taken as prize is appropriated for the use of the United States before 
that property comes into the custody of the prize court, it shall be 
surveyed, appraised, and inventoried by persons as competent and 
impartial as can be obtained, and the survey, appraisal, and inventory 
sent to the court in which the proceedings are to be had. If the 
property is appropriated after it comes into the custody of the court, 
sufficient notice shall be given to enable the court to have the 
property appraised for the protection of the rights of the claimants.
    (c) Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b), in any case where prize 
property is appropriated for the use of the United States, a prize court 
may adjudicate the cause on the basis of an inventory and survey and an 
appropriate undertaking by the United States to respond for the value of 
the property, without either an appraisal or a deposit of the value of 
the prize with the Treasurer of the United States or a public 
depositary.

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 478.)

                                          Historical and Revision Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
            Revised section                      Source (U.S. Code)            
   Source (Statutes at Large)
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---------------------------------
7663..................................  34 U.S.C. 1162.                      Au
g. 18, 1942, ch. 553, Sec.  4, 56
                                                                              S
tat. 746; July 1, 1944, ch. 370,
                                                                              S
ec.  2, 58 Stat. 678.
                                        34 U.S.C. 1140.                      R.
S. 4624; Nov. 14, 1945, ch. 472,
                                                                              S
ec.  3, 59 Stat. 581.
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---------------------------------

    In subsection (a) the words ``may appropriate'' are substituted for 
the words ``the power to take or appropriate * * * may be exercised'', 
in 34 U.S.C. 1162, for clarity and uniformity of statement. Under the 
Revised Statutes it was implied and understood that the Navy could 
appropriate prizes on behalf of the United States for use by the Navy. 
Use by other government agencies was not contemplated. The 1942 Act 
enabled the Navy to turn prize vessels over to the War Shipping 
Administration without bringing them back to United States ports. 
Reference to that Administration in subsection (a) is omitted since the 
Administration has been abolished and these functions have not been 
specifically vested in its successors. It is surplusage as well, because 
the authority to appropriate is given to any officer or agency 
designated by the President.
    The proviso added to R.S. 4624 (34 U.S.C. 1140) by the 1945 
amendment is identical with the proviso added to the 1942 Act (34 U.S.C. 
1162) by the 1944 amendment. The 1945 Act completed the process of 
making the procedure under the Revised Statutes the same as that in 
effect for causes over which the courts were given jurisdiction by the 
World War II legislation, and its single statement in subsection (c) is 
therefore justified.
    34 U.S.C. 1140 and the revised section reflect the Act of March 3, 
1899, ch. 413, Sec. 13, 30 Stat. 1007, which repealed laws authorizing 
distribution of prize proceeds to captors, and the Act of May 29, 1920, 
ch. 214, 41 Stat. 654, which requires substitution of ``Treasurer of the 
United States or public depositary'' for ``assistant treasurer''.
