is an
instrument of coercion, which, by depriving an enemy of property within
the reach of his power, whether within his territory or without it,
impairs his ability to resist the confiscating government, while at the
same time it furnishes to that government means for carrying on the war.
Any property which the enemy can use, either by actual appropriation, or
by the exercise of control over the owner, no matter what his
nationality, is a proper subject of confiscation. Congress may provide
for immediate seizure of property which the President or his agent
determines to be enemy property, leaving the question of enemy ownership
to be settled later at the suit of a claimant. For these reasons the
Confiscation Act of 1862,[1299] and the Trading with the Enemy Act of
1917 and amendments thereto, were held to be within the power of
Congress to "make rules concerning captures on land and water."[1300]

PRIZES OF WAR

The power of Congress with respect to prizes is plenary; no one can have
any interest in prizes captured except by permission of Congress.[1301]
Nevertheless, since International Law is a part of our law, the Court
will administer it so long as it has not been modified by treaty or by
legislative or executive action. Thus, during the Civil War, the Court
found that the Confiscation Act of 1861, and the Supplementary Act of
1863, which, in authorizing the condemnation of vessels, made provision
for the protection of interests of loyal citizens, merely created a
municipal forfeiture and did not override or displace the law of prize.
It decided, therefore, that when a vessel was liable to condemnation
under either law, the government was at liberty to proceed under the
more stringent rules of International Law, with the result that the
citizen would be deprived of the benefit of the protective provisions of
the statute.[1302] Similarly, when Cuban ports were blockaded during the
Spanish-American War, the Court held, over the vigorous dissent of three
of its members, that the rule of International Law exempting unarmed
fishing vessels from capture was applicable in the absence of any treaty
provision, or other public act of the Government in relation to the
subject.[1303]

POLICE REGULATIONS; RENT CONTROL

In enforcing the requirement of due process of law in its modern
expanded sense of "reasonable law" the Court has recognized that a war
emergency may justify legislation which would otherwise be an
unco