The Offences at Sea Act 1799 (39 Geo 3 c 37) is an Act of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...

. It is still in force. It extended the jurisdiction of British courts to crimes committed by British subjects on the

high seas The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...

. It does not apply to foreign citizens. (However crimes committed by foreigners in British

territorial waters The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potenti ...

, or on board British ships on the high seas, can be prosecuted in British courts.) Jurisdiction over

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

on the high seas already existed before 1799, whether committed by British subjects or not. This Act appears to determine the sentence for piracy ''iure gentium'' in cases where section 2 of the

Piracy Act 1837 The Piracy Act 1837 (7 Will 4 & 1 Vict c 88) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the death penalty for most offences of piracy, but created a new offence often known as piracy with violence, which was punishable with ...

does not apply.

Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice ''Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice'' (usually called simply ''Archbold'') is the leading practitioners' text for criminal lawyers in England and Wales and several other common law jurisdictions around the world. It has been in p ...

. 1999. Para 25 - 46 at p 1979.

Provisions

Preamble

The preamble was repealed b
Part I
of Schedule 3 to the

Criminal Law Act 1967 The Criminal Law Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made some major changes to English criminal law, as part of wider liberal reforms by the Labour government elected in 1966. Most of it is still in force. Territ ...

Section 1

This section now reads: The words "of the same nature respectively, and to be" and the words from "and shall be inquired of" onwards were repealed by Part I of Schedule 3 to the Criminal Law Act 1967.

Section 2

This section was repealed by Part I of Schedule 3 to the Criminal Law Act 1967.

References

* {{UK legislation English criminal law Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1799 Water transport in the United Kingdom Piracy law

Provisions

Preamble

Section 1

Section 2

See also

References