US Code
CHAPTER 883— PRIZE
§ 8852. Jurisdiction

(a) The United States district courts have original jurisdiction, exclusive of the courts of the States, of each prize and each proceeding for the condemnation of property taken as prize, if the prize is—(1) brought into the United States, or the Commonwealths or possessions;
(2) brought into the territorial waters of a cobelligerent;
(3) brought into a locality in the temporary or permanent possession of, or occupied by, the armed forces of the United States; or
(4) appropriated for the use of the United States.
(b) The United States district courts, exclusive of the courts of the States, also have original jurisdiction of a prize cause in which the prize property—(1) is lost or entirely destroyed; or
(2) cannot be brought in for adjudication because of its condition.
(c) The jurisdiction conferred by this section of prizes brought into the territorial waters of a cobelligerent may not be exercised, nor may prizes be appropriated for the use of the United States within those territorial waters, unless the government having jurisdiction over those waters consents to the exercise of the jurisdiction or to the appropriation.

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