visit and search

visit and search, procedure adopted by a belligerent warship to ascertain whether a merchant vessel is liable to seizure. If an inspection of the papers shows the ship to be an enemy vessel or to be carrying contraband, breaking blockade, or engaging in unneutral service, it is immediately captured. More often there is merely suspicion of such activities, in which case the vessel may be searched. If the searchers are satisfied the vessel is innocent, it is allowed to proceed. If suspicion remains, it may be brought into port for a more thorough search. If it is finally declared innocent and a prize court considers there was no probable cause for capture, the court may order damages to be paid.

As the size of modern ships makes it impossible to search them thoroughly on the high seas, the practice of taking them automatically into port for search was adopted by British warships in World War I. The United States, however, protested on the ground that international law did not permit diversion of the vessel unless search at sea showed probable cause for capture. As a result, the British adopted the navicert system in 1916. The navicert issued by the belligerent’s representative in a neutral country was tantamount to a ship’s passport, possession of which ensured, in the absence of suspicious circumstances, that the vessel would be allowed to proceed on its way.

While the principle of freedom of the seas normally forbids visit and search of foreign merchant vessels on the high seas in time of peace, the practice has occasionally been extended to “pacific blockades” instituted as measures of reprisal, usually by a large state against a small one. On Oct. 23, 1962, for example, U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy proclaimed a “quarantine” of Cuba, under which any vessel suspected of carrying prohibited materials, especially missiles, to Cuba would be intercepted within a designated zone around Cuba, stopped, visited, searched, and, if found to be carrying such materials, diverted. If it attempted to escape or resist, it would be shot at and perhaps sunk. A few Soviet vessels were diverted, but none were sunk, and the crisis was soon terminated. This procedure, which resembled pacific blockade, was criticized as contrary to the UN Charter, which prohibited the use or threat of force except in defense against armed attack.