destroyer

Prize and booty sound like pirate talk. For lawyers and sailors, the terms have a technical meaning—although they have not been commonly used since World War II. On April 19, United States Marines seized the Iranian-flagged M/V Touska for violating the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports. The ship and its crew are now in United States custody. What happens to the ship now turns on whether the United States invokes a centuries-old body of law that has not been applied for 80 years—and has huge implications for the future of war. The Touska makes for a compelling case for the use of prize law because