The Allied Powers (Maritime Courts) Act 1941 ( 4 & 5 Geo. 6. c. 21) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

that allowed certain British

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

to set up maritime courts with criminal jurisdiction within the United Kingdom.

Act

The Act came into need because of the early events of the

, in which the remnants of the European anti-Nazi forces fled to Britain after their defeat. Finding their armed forces in Britain, sometimes with a large number of merchant navy ships, they had no effective machinery of justice. The Visiting Forces (British Commonwealth) Act 1933 and

Allied Forces Act 1940 The Allied Forces Act 1940 (3 & 4 Geo. 6 c. 51) was an act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in late 1940, after the fall of France. The act gave legal authority for the recognised sovereign governments of Belgium, Cze ...

provided some martial courts, but nothing for maritime law.

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

(1941) Section 1 of the Act allowed for new maritime courts to exercise jurisdiction over offences committed by any non-British person on a merchant vessel owned by the nation or power which constituted the court. Section 2 allowed for the courts to hear cases against their own citizens involving mercantile conscription laws. However, individuals could only be ordered before the court with a writ from a British

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, and punishment took place in British prisons. Both the Netherlands and Norway constituted courts under this Act, which was eventually repealed after the close of the war with the

Statute Law Revision Act 1950 The Statute Law Revision Act 1950 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This Act was partly in force in Great Britain at the end of 2010. The enactments which were repealed (whether for the whole or any part of the United Kingdom) ...

. Macmillan notes the similarity of purpose with a Dutch law of 1541, passed by

Maximilian of Burgundy Maximilian of Burgundy (1514–1558), marquis of Veere and Lord of Beveren, was a noble from the Low Countries in the service of the Habsburgs. Family Maximilian was the son of Adolf of Burgundy and Anna of Bergen. He was a descendant of Antoin ...

, which allowed Scots merchants at

Veere Veere (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Ter Veere) is a municipality with a population of 22,000 and a town with a population of 1,500 in the southwestern Netherlands, in the region of Walcheren in the province of Zeeland. History The name ''Veere'' ...

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

to be governed by Scots law.Macmillan, p.350

References

Bibliography

* {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1941 1941 in military history May 1941 events Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament World War II legislation Military discipline and World War II Allies of World War II