Notes on 10 U.S.C. § 7672 : US Code - Notes

Search Notes on 10 U.S.C. § 7672 : US Code - Notes

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 481.)
HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
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Revised Source (U.S. Code) Source (Statutes at
section Large)
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7672 34 U.S.C. 1158 (less last R.S. 4652 (less last
sentence). sentence).
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In subsection (c) the words "restore the property" are
substituted for the words "adjudge to be restored." A similar
substitution is made in subsection (d).
In subsection (d) the words "foreign government" are substituted
for the words "foreign prince, government, or state".
Subsection (e) is derived from the next to the last sentence of
R.S. 4652 which, when enacted, read:
"The whole amount awarded as salvage shall be decreed to the
captors and no part to the United States, and shall be distributed
as in the case of proceeds of property condemned as prize."
The Act of March 3, 1899, ch. 413, Sec. 13, 30 Stat. 1007,
repealed all laws authorizing the distribution of prize money to
captors. Accordingly, 34 U.S.C. 1158 states:
"The whole amount awarded as salvage shall be disposed of as in
the case of proceeds of property condemned as prize."
As shown in Sec. 7668 of this title, the net proceeds of property
condemned as prize must be decreed to the United States. Subsection
(e) is phrased so as to state directly, instead of by reference,
the fact that the amount awarded as salvage is paid to the
government. While this is apparently inconsistent with R.S. 4652 as
originally enacted, it is consistent with the intent expressed by
Congress in the provision of the Act of March 3, 1899 (supra),
which repealed provisions relating to the distribution of prize
money and bounty to crews. This act, it is true, did not mention
salvage; and salvage money is still occasionally awarded to crews
of naval vessels. However, such occasions are rare, and it is the
general policy of the Department of the Navy not to claim salvage
on behalf of its personnel. No case appears in which salvage
derived from prize has been claimed for such personnel. Prize
salvage is more closely related to prize money than it is to other
salvage. The determination by Congress that captors should not
share in the proceeds of prizes is, therefore, as in 34 U.S.C.
1158, carried through the revised section to salvage derived from
prize. The word "amounts" is substituted for the words "the whole
amount".