Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act 1914
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1914 c. 12 |
| Year | 1914 |
Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act, 1914
(5 & 6 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 12.
An Act to amend the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1914, and for purposes connected therewith.
[27th November 1914]
W HEREAS it is expedient to make further provision for preventing the payment of money to persons and bodies of persons resident or carrying on business in any country with which His Majesty is for the time being at war (which persons and bodies of persons are hereinafter referred to as ‘enemies’) in contravention of the law relating to trading with the enemy, and for preserving with a view to arrangements to be made at the conclusion of peace, such money and certain other property belonging to enemies; and to make other provisions for preventing trading with the enemy:
Be it therefore 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:
1 Constitution of office of Custodian of enemy property.
(1) The Board of Trade shall appoint a person to act as Custodian of enemy property (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Custodian’) for England and Wales, for Scotland and for Ireland respectively, for the purpose of receiving, holding, preserving, and dealing with such property as may be paid to or vested in him in pursuance of this Act, and if any question arises as to which Custodian any money is to be paid to under this Act, the question shall be determine by the Board of Trade.
(2) The Public Trustee shall be appointed to be the Custodian for England and Wales, and shall, in relation to all property held by him is capacity of Custodian have the like status, and his accounts shall be subject to the like audit, as if the same were held by him in his capacity of Public Trustee, and the Public Trustee Act, 1906 , shall apply accordingly.
(3) The Custodian for Scotland and Ireland respectively shall have such powers and duties with respect to the property aforesaid as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Board of Trade with the approval of the Treasury.
(4) The Custodian may place on deposit with any bank or invest in any securities approved by the Treasury, any moneys paid to him under this Act, or received by him from property vested in him under this Act, and any interest or dividends received ion account of such deposits or investments shall be dealt with in such manner as the Treasury may direct:
Provided that the Custodian for any part of the United Kingdom shall, if so directed by the Treasury, transfer any money held by him under this Act to the Custodian of another part thereof.
2 Payment of dividends, &c. payable to enemy.
(1) Any sum which, had a state of war not existed, would have been payable and paid to or for the benefit of an enemy, by way of dividends interest or share of profits, shall be paid by the person, firm or company by whom it would have been payable to the Custodian to hold subject to the provisions of this Act and any Order in Council made thereunder, and the payment shall be accompanied by such particulars as the Board of Trade may prescribe, or as the Custodian, if so authorised by the Board of Trade, may require.
Any payment required to be made under this subsection to the Custodian shall be made—
(a ) within fourteen days after the passing of this Act, if the sum, had a state war not existed, would have been paid before the passing of this Act; and
(b ) in any other case within fourteen days after it would have been paid.
(2) Where before the passing of this Act any such sum has been paid into any account with a bank, or has been paid to any other person in trust for an enemy, the person firm or company by whom the payment was made shall, within fourteen days after the passing of this Act, by notice in writing, require the bank or person to pay the sum over to the Custodian to hold as aforesaid and shall furnish the Custodian with such particulars as aforesaid. The bank or other persons shall, within one week after the receipt of the notice, comply with the requirement and shall be exempt from all liability for having done so.
(3) If any person fails to make or require the making of any payment or to furnish the prescribed particulars within the time mentioned in this section, he shall, on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and imprisonment, and in addition to a further fine not exceeding fifty pounds for every day during which the default continues, and every director, manager, secretary or officer of a company, or any other person who is knowingly a party to the default shall, on the like conviction, be liable to the like penalty.
(4) If, in the case of any person, firm or company whose books and documents are liable to inspection under subsection (2) of section two of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1914 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), any question arises as to the amount which would have been so payable and paid as aforesaid, the question shall be determined by the person who may have been or who may be appointed to inspect the books and documents of the person, firm or company, or, on appeal, by the Board of Trade and if in the course of determining the question, it appears to the inspector or the Board of Trade that the person, firm or company has not distributed as dividends, interest or profits the whole of the amount properly available for that purpose the inspector or Board may ascertain what amount was so available and require the whole of such amount to be so distributed, and, in the case of a company, if such dividends have not been declared the inspector or the Board may himself or themselves declare the appropriate dividends, and every such declaration shall be as effective as a declaration to the like effect duly made in accordance with the constitution of the company:
Provided that where a controller has been appointed under section three of the principal Act this subsection shall apply as if for references to the inspector there were substituted references to the controller.
(5) For the purposes of this Act the expression ‘dividends, interest or share of profits’ means any dividends, bonus or interest in respect of any shares, stock, debentures, debenture stock or other obligations of any company any interest in respect of any loan to a firm or person carrying on business for the purposes of that business, and any profits or share of profits of such a business, and, where a person is carrying on any business on behalf of an enemy any sum which and a state of war not existed, would have been transmissible by a person to the enemy by way of profits from that business shall be deemed to be a sum which would have been payable and paid to that enemy.
3 Duty of trustees for enemies to notify the Custodian.
(1) Any person who holds or manages for or on behalf of an enemy any property, real or personal (including any rights, whether legal or equitable, in or arising out of property, real or personal), shall, within one month after the passing of this Act or if the property comes into his possession or under his control after the passing of...
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