Perhaps the maritime rule of 24 hours for warships getting the
start of other warships upon departure from a harbor was derived from
the 24-hour rule for prizes, namely, that a certain time must elapse be-
fore a belligerent warship might leave a neutral port to pursue another
belligerent warship which had previously left the same port. However, there has been no unanimity of opinion reached on this even to
the present time. The Continental, and, in particular, the old French
principles of law were directly opposed to the English rules on the
question.