contraband

contraband
/kon"treuh band'/, n.
1. anything prohibited by law from being imported or exported.
2. goods imported or exported illegally.
3. illegal or prohibited trade; smuggling.
4. Internat. Law. See contraband of war.
5. (during the American Civil War) a black slave who escaped to or was brought within the Union lines.
adj.
6. prohibited from export or import.
[1520-30; earlier contrabanda < Sp < It contrabando (now contrabbando), equiv. to contra- CONTRA-1 + ML bandum, var. of bannum BAN2]

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      in the laws of war (war, law of), goods that may not be shipped to a belligerent because they serve a military purpose.

      The laws of war relating to contraband developed in the later European Middle Ages and have undergone continual development in order to meet the needs of the major maritime powers. In his De jure belli ac pacis (1625; On the Law of War and Peace), Hugo Grotius (Grotius, Hugo) took note of a long-standing controversy in regard to what categories of cargo might be confiscated in the same way as weapons. He suggested a threefold classification, the forerunner of several different classifications enumerated from time to time with no visible effect on practice. Governments have issued proclamations listing the items they would seize, and these differed from country to country and from war to war.

      From 1908 to 1909, however, 10 naval powers met in London to draw up an agreed code regarding belligerent restrictions on neutral trade. The resulting Declaration of London classified goods as (1) absolute contraband; (2) conditional contraband; and (3) free. The first class, military equipment, was subject to seizure on its way to any destination in enemy territory. The second class consisted of items such as food, clothing, and rolling stock, which were to be treated as contraband only if in transit to the government or armed forces of an enemy. The third class listed goods not subject to capture.

      Though never ratified, the declaration was near enough to a general consensus to be provisionally adopted by both sides when World War I broke out in 1914. The demands of total war, however, resulted in such items as rubber, cotton, and soap being moved from the free list to absolute contraband. The declaration eventually became irrelevant and was explicitly discarded in 1916.

      Apart from the difficulty of arriving at an agreed classification of contraband, a major problem was posed by maritime trade between neutrals. Goods shipped by one neutral to another were in principle free, but British and American practice in the 19th century, under the doctrine of “continuous voyage,” extended the right to seizure of goods that, though on their way to a neutral destination, were to be forwarded to an enemy. The trend was thus toward the right to deprive an enemy of any benefits of neutral trade. This was emphasized during World War I by the Allied imposition of quotas on European neutrals to prevent them from supplying the enemy from their own stocks, which they would then replace from foreign sources.

      In 1939 proclamations issued by the Allied powers and by Germany again differentiated between absolute and conditional contraband. The only secure maritime trade left to neutrals was that covered by the naval certificates issued by belligerents to approved shippers and cargos. This practice, originated by the English in 1590 and used in World War I, was greatly extended during World War II. Its widespread adoption amounted to official assertion that, in time of war, trade by sea could be conducted only with the approval of belligerents.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • contraband — con·tra·band / kän trə ˌband/ n [Italian contrabbando act of smuggling, from contra against + bando edict, law]: property that is unlawfully produced, possessed, or transported contraband per se: property that is in and of itself unlawful to… …   Law dictionary

  • contraband — con‧tra‧band [ˈkɒntrəbænd ǁ ˈkɑːn ] noun [uncountable] LAW TAX goods that are brought into a country illegally, especially without tax being paid on them: • He had been accused of smuggling contraband from Brazil. • traders dealing in contraband… …   Financial and business terms

  • Contraband — Con tra*band, n. [It. contrabando; contra + bando ban, proclamation: cf. F. contrebande. See {Ban} an edict.] 1. Illegal or prohibited traffic. [1913 Webster] Persons the most bound in duty to prevent contraband, and the most interested in the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Contraband — Contraband …   Википедия

  • Contraband — Con tra*band, a. Prohibited or excluded by law or treaty; forbidden; as, contraband goods, or trade. [1913 Webster] The contraband will always keep pace, in some measure, with the fair trade. Burke. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Contraband — puede referirse a: Contraband, álbum de Velvet Revolver; Contraband, largometraje inglés dirigido por Michael Powell. Esta página de desambiguación cataloga artículos relacionados con el mismo título. Si llegaste aquí a través de …   Wikipedia Español

  • Contraband — Cóntraband, adj. et adv. aus dem Ital. contrabando, einem Verbothe zuwider, doch nur von der verbothenen Einfuhre fremder Waaren. Contrabande Waaren, die wider das Verboth eingeführet werden, oder von denen die gesetzte Abgabe nicht entrichtet… …   Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart

  • contraband — [adj] black market; unlawful banned, bootleg, bootlegged, disapproved, excluded, forbidden, hot*, illegal, illicit, interdicted, prohibited, proscribed, shut out, smuggled, taboo, unauthorized, verboten; concepts 319,545 Ant. allowed, lawful,… …   New thesaurus

  • contraband — [kän′trə band΄] n. [Sp contrabanda, a smuggling < It contrabando < contra , against + bando < ML bannum < Frank * ban, a command; akin to OE ban: see BAN1] 1. unlawful or prohibited trade 2. goods forbidden by law to be imported or… …   English World dictionary

  • Contraband — Con tra*band, v. t. 1. To import illegally, as prohibited goods; to smuggle. [Obs.] Johnson. [1913 Webster] 2. To declare prohibited; to forbid. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] The law severly contrabands Our taking business of men s hands. Hudibras. [1913 …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Contraband — Bandlogo …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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