1799: 39 George 3 c.37: Offences on the High Seas

1799: 39 George 3 c.37: An Act for remedying certain Defects in the Law respecting Offences committed upon the High Seas.

[10th May 1799.]

[28 Hen. 8. c. 15. recited.]

WHEREAS by an Act passed in the twenty-eighth Year of King Henry the Eighth, it is enacted, That Treasons, Felonies, Robbers, Murthers, and Confederacies, committed on the High Seas, shall be enquired of, tried, and determined, in such Shires and Places in the Realm, as shall be limited by the King’s Commission to be directed for the same, in like Form and Condition as if any such Offence or Offences had been committed or done in or upon the Land: And whereas it is expedient to declare that other Offences committed on the Seas may be enquired of, tried, and determined, in like Manner; be it 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,

[All Offences whatever committed on the High Seas shall be liable to the same punishment as if committed on Shore, and shall be tried and adjudged in the same Manner as Felonies, &c. are directed by the recited Act.]

That all and every Offence and Offences, which, after the passing of this Act, shall be committed upon the High Seas out of the Body of any County of this Realm, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be Offences of the same Nature respectively, and to be liable to the same Punishments respectively, as if they had been committed upon the Shore; and shall be enquired of, heard, tried, and determined and adjudged, in the same Manner as Treasons, Felonies, Murthers, and Confederacies, are directed to be by the same Act.

[Persons tried for Murther or Manslaughter, and found guilty of Manslaughter only, shall be entitled to the Benefit of Clergy, and be subject to the same Punishment as if committed on Land.

II. And be it further enacted, That when any Person or Persons shall be tried for the Crime of Murther or Manslaughter committed upon the Sea, by virtue of any Commission directed under the said Act, and shall be found guilty of Manslaughter only, such Person or Persons shall be entitled to receive the Benefit of Clergy in like Manner, and shall be subject to the same Punishment, as if he or they had committed such Manslaughter in or upon the Land.

Source: Ruffhead, Statutes At Large, vol. 18.