ouch at an intermediate port under
a licence for a direct voyage to this country, the presumption being
that at the intermediate port the vessel might receive another
destination, or might actually deliver her cargo in that port.[125]

[Sidenote: Time.]

Of course when the period for which a licence has been granted has
expired, it no longer has any operation; yet in cases in which parties
have used due diligence, but have been prevented by accident from
carrying their intentions into effect within the time, it has been
holden that, though their licences have expired, they are entitled to
protection.[126]

A licence cannot be _ante dated_, and if granted subsequent to capture
it is no protection against condemnation. It is in its very nature
prospective, pointing to something which has not yet been done, and
cannot be done at all without such permission. Where the act has
already been done, and requires to be upheld, it must be by an express
confirmation of the act itself, as by an indemnity granted to the
party; but a licence necessarily looks to that which remains to be
done, and can extend its influence only to future operations.[127]

Note.--It has been before pointed out, that the Queen has, by her
prerogative, the power of granting licences. But the Navigation Laws
could not, of course, be dispensed with by the royal prerogative.
Various acts, therefore, were passed to alter or qualify them,
according to the new condition of things which was produced in time of
war. These acts expired with the several wars that suggested them; but
the almost total repeal of the celebrated Navigation Laws will render
the re-enactment of similar war measures almost unnecessary.

SECTION IV.

_Ransom, Recaptures, and Salvage_.

[Sidenote: Ransom.]

Sometimes circumstances will not permit property captured at sea to be
sent into port; and the captor, in such cases, may either destroy it,
or permit the original owner to redeem it.

It was formerly the general custom to redeem property from the hands
of the enemy by Ransom, and the contract is undoubtedly valid, when
municipal regulations do not intervene. It is now but little known in
the commercial law of England, for several statutes in the reign of
George the Third absolutely prohibited British subjects the privilege
of ransom of property captured at sea, unless in a case of extreme
necessity--to be judged of by the Court of Admiralty.[128]

These contracts are