The Valencia

• Jurisdiction: Noruega
• Date: 03 September 1947
• Docket Number: Case No. 135
• Court: Prize Court (Norway)

Norway, Bergen Assize Court, in Prize.

Case No. 135

The Valencia.

Prize Law — Procedure — Appointment of Defending Counsel for Owners.

The following extract from the judgment in this case is relevant:

“By a citation dated July 11, 1947, entered in the Court on July 12, 1947, the State through the Defence Department instituted an action against any person having a claim to the Valencia, at present lying in Bergen, under the Law concerning Prize and Prize Judgments of May 2, 1947. The citation was based on the grounds that the ship belonged to the German shipowners Rob. M. Sloman, Jr., of Hamburg; that at the instigation of the Directorate of Enemy Property she was taken in prize by the Norwegian Navy on July 1, 1947; and that she was therefore liable to condemnation to the Norwegian State as good prize. In accordance with paragraph 10 of the said Law the defendants were summoned to the trial on September 3, 1947. Notice thereof was duly inserted in the Norsk Lysningsblad of August 21, 1947, and the Bergens Tidende of August 19, 1947, and was exhibited in the Court precincts from August 16, 1947, until the hearing of the action. No parties appeared in the cause, and the Court found that the summons was duly served in accordance with the provisions regulating such matters. As no one opposed the claim the Court appointed an attorney as counsel on behalf of the defendants, in accordance with paragraph 9 (2) of the Prize Law.

“The Directorate...