Naval Enlistment Act 1835
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1835 c. 24 |
| Year | 1835 |
(5 & 6 Will. 4) C A P. XXIV.
[21st August 1835]
'WHEREAS it is expedient to limit the Duration of the Service of Seamen in His Majesty's Navy, and to increase the Inducements to Seafaring Men voluntarily to enter into the same:' Be it therefore enacted and declared 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, That no Person shall be liable to be detained against his Consent in the Naval Service of His Majesty for a longer Period than Five Years, to be computed from the Day of his being entered into the same, unless he shall have voluntarily entered for a longer Term, and except as herein-after provided; and that at the Expiration of such Period of continuous Service he shall, upon his Application for that Purpose, be entitled to be discharged; and if the Ship on board which he shall be serving be in any Port of the United Kingdomhe shall be forthwith discharged; and in Cases of Men serving on board Ships absent from the United Kingdom, the Lord High Admiral, or the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral, shall cause the necessary Orders and Instructions to be given to all Admirals and other Officers in Command of His Majesty's Ships, that about the Time when the Period of their respective Services shall expire every Person entitled to his Discharge, on signifying to his Captain or Commanding Officer his Wish no longer to continue in the Service, shall be discharged forthwith, if he desire it, or shall be sent by the earliest convenient Opportunity, in some Ship of His Majesty, to some Port of the United Kingdom, to be there discharged: Provided always nevertheless, that if the Admiral or Commanding Officer of the Fleet or Squadron under whose Command he shall be shall, in consequence of any special Emergency, deem it hazardous to the Public Service forthwith to discharge him, then such Admiral or Commanding Officer shall have Power to detain him in the Service for a further Period of Six Calendar Months, or until such Emergency shall have ceased; and in every such Case the Person so detained shall be entitled to receive for such extra Service One Fourth in addition to the Pay of his Rating: Provided also, that if any Seaman shall be under lawful Arrestat the Period at which he shall be so entitled to his Discharge, then such Discharge shall not take place until such Arrest shall have ceased, or, in case he shall have been put under Arrest in order to be brought to Trial for any Offence, until he shall have been tried for such Offence, and have undergone the Punishment to which he may be adjudged for the same by Sentence of Court-martial: And provided further, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to exempt any Person so entitled to his Dischargefrom the Performance of the Duties of his Station until he shall have been actually discharged; and that every such Person, so long as he shall be in the Service, shall be amenable and subject to the Discipline of the Navy, and to the several Provisions of the Laws in being relating to the Government of His Majesty's Ships, Vessels, and Forces by Sea.
II Discharged Seamen to receive Certificates, on which Protections are to be issued to them.
II. And be it further enacted, That every such Seaman who may have served the said Term of Five Years, whilst any...
To continue reading
Request your trial