Allied Powers (Maritime Courts) Act 1941

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1941 c. 21
Year1941


Allied Powers (Maritime Courts) Act, 1941.

(4 & 5 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 21.

An Act to make temporary provision for enabling allied and associated Powers to establish and maintain in the United Kingdom Maritime Courts for the trial and punishment of certain offences committed by persons other than British subjects; to provide for the trial and punishment by British courts of similar offences committed by British subjects; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[22nd May 1941]

Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

S-1 Constitution of allied Maritime Courts in the United Kingdom.

1 Constitution of allied Maritime Courts in the United Kingdom.

(1) During the continuance in force of this Act, it shall be lawful for any Power to which this Act applies to establish and maintain in the United Kingdom courts of justice, to be called Maritime Courts, having such criminal jurisdiction as is conferred on them by this Act.

(2) His Majesty may by Order in Council direct that this Act shall apply to any Power allied with His Majesty or to any Power for the time being at war with any other Power with which His Majesty is for the time being at war, and references in the following provisions of this Act to any Power shall be construed as references to a Power to which this Act applies.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Maritime Courts of any Power shall be constituted, and the practice and procedure of those courts shall be regulated, in accordance with the law of that Power.

(4) A Secretary of State may at the request of any Power publish in the Gazettes notice of the establishment of any Maritime Court established by that Power and of the constitution and membership of the court, and may, at the like request and in the like manner, publish notice of the cancellation or modification of any previous notice; and where it is shown that any proceeding purporting to be a proceeding of a Maritime Court of any Power was taken by or before a court which was constituted in accordance with the terms of any such notice for the time being in force relating to the courts of that Power, that proceeding shall be conclusively presumed to be a proceeding of a Maritime Court lawfully constituted in accordance with the law of that Power and having the jurisdiction conferred on such courts by this Act.

(5) The members of a Maritime Court when exercising jurisdiction by virtue of this Act, and all persons taking part in any judicial proceedings of such a court, shall enjoy the like immunities and privileges as are enjoyed respectively by a superior court of record of the United Kingdom and by persons taking part in the judicial proceedings of such a court.

(6) So much of section seven of the Evidence Act, 1851 , as relates to the proof of the judicial proceedings of courts of justice in foreign states shall apply in relation to the proceedings of a Maritime Court as if that court were established in a foreign state.

(7) A Secretary of State may by order direct that any officer of a Maritime Court specified in the directions shall have all the powers, immunities and privileges of a constable within the precincts of the court, and in relation only to a person delivered into his custody by virtue of a warrant issued under this Act outside those precincts also.

S-2 Jurisdiction of Maritime Courts.

2 Jurisdiction of Maritime Courts.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Maritime Courts of any Power shall have jurisdiction to try persons, not being British subjects, for any of the following acts or omissions constituting offences against the law of that Power, that is to say:—

(a ) any act or omission committed by any person on board a merchant ship of that Power:

(b ) any act or omission committed by the master or any member of the crew of a merchant ship of that Power in contravention of the merchant shipping law of that Power:

(c ) any act or omission committed by any person who is both a national of that Power and a seaman of that Power as defined by this Act, in contravention of the mercantile marine conscription law of that Power:

Provided that the Maritime Courts of any Power shall not have jurisdiction to try any person for any act or omission committed before the date of the passing of this Act except an act or omission committed at any time not more than six months before that date and constituting an offence against some law of that Power in force at that time other than the merchant shipping law and mercantile marine conscription law thereof.

(2) A Maritime Court shall not have jurisdiction to try any person for any such act or omission unless he has been required to appear before that court for trial by means of a summons issued under this Act and served on him in accordance with rules made thereunder, or has been brought before that court for trial by means of a warrant for his arrest issued under this Act.

(3) A Maritime Court shall not have jurisdiction to try any person for any act or omission constituting or forming part of an offence of which he has been acquitted or convicted by or before any British court.

(4) If the law of any Power makes provision for the proceedings of Maritime Courts established by that Power being subject to appeal to any superior court established by that Power, any such superior court shall have such appellate jurisdiction in relation to matters within the jurisdiction of Maritime Courts as may be conferred by that law, and, except where the context otherwise requires, references in this Act to a Maritime Court shall be construed as including references to any such superior court as aforesaid.

S-3 Saving for jurisdiction of British courts.

3 Saving for jurisdiction of British courts.

(1) Nothing in this Act shall deprive any British court of jurisdiction in respect of any act or omission constituting an offence against the law of any part of His Majesty's dominions.

(2) If any person convicted of an offence by or before any British court having jurisdiction in the United Kingdom is proved to have been sentenced by a Maritime Court in respect of any act or omission constituting or forming part of that offence, the British court shall in awarding punishment for the offence have regard to any punishment imposed on him in respect of that act or omission by the sentence of the Maritime Court.

S-4 Offences by British subjects.

4 Offences by British subjects.

(1) Where any act or omission constituting an offence against the law of any Power is committed after the passing of this Act by a British subject on board a merchant ship of that Power and a like act or omission would, if committed on board a British ship, have constituted an offence against any provision of the law of the United Kingdom, the act or omission shall constitute an offence against that provision.

(2) Where any act or omission constituting an offence against the merchant shipping law of any Power is committed after the passing of this Act by the master or a member of the crew of a merchant ship of that Power who is a British subject and a like act or omission would, if committed by the master or a member of the crew of a British ship, have constituted an offence against any provision of the merchant shipping law of the United Kingdom, the act or omission shall constitute an offence against that provision.

S-5 Institution of proceedings before Maritime Courts.

5 Institution of proceedings before Maritime Courts.

(1) Where it appears to a justice of the peace, on information on oath laid before him by a person authorised by any Power to institute proceedings before the Maritime Courts of that Power (hereinafter referred to as an ‘authorised prosecutor’) that it is intended to charge any person before such a court, the justice shall, if he is satisfied that the form and contents of the information comply with the prescribed requirements, either issue a summons to the person to be charged requiring him to appear before the Maritime Court at such time and place as may be specified in the summons, or issue a warrant for his arrest requiring him to be brought before that court:

Provided that a warrant for the arrest of any person shall not be issued by a justice under this subsection unless it appears to him that, having regard to the gravity of the charge or to the urgency of the case, it is expedient that the person to be charged should be arrested forthwith, or that he is unlikely to attend before the Maritime Court without being compelled so to do.

(2) Where it appears to a justice of the peace, on information on oath laid before him, that any person required by a summons issued under this section to appear before a Maritime Court has failed to comply with the requirements of the summons, or that any person bound by any undertaking given by him to a Maritime Court to appear before that court has failed to comply with that undertaking, the justice shall, unless it appears to him that there was reasonable excuse for the failure, issue a warrant for the arrest of that person requiring that he be brought before the Maritime Court.

S-6 Provisions for compelling attendance of witnesses before Maritime Courts.

6 Provisions for compelling attendance of witnesses before Maritime Courts.

(1) Where it appears to a justice of the peace, either on the production of a certificate issued by a Maritime Court, or on information on oath laid before him by any person, that any person is wanted as a witness in connection with any proceedings before that court (whether for the prosecution or for the defence), the justice shall issue a summons to that person requiring him to attend before the Maritime Court as a witness:

Provided that where it appears to the justice, on such an information as aforesaid, that the person so...

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