The Trading with the Enemy Act 1914 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 prescribed an offence of conducting business with any person of "enemy character". It was enacted soon after the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

became involved in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act 1916

Under the 1914 Act, ownership of enemy assets (unless the property was insignificant) had been put in trust and held by the

Public Trustee The public trustee is an office established pursuant to national (and, if applicable, state or territory) statute, to act as a trustee, usually when a sum is required to be deposited as security by legislation, if courts remove another trustee, o ...

; business activities were monitored by the Board of Trade. The 1916 amendment required trustees to liquidate those holdings and hold the sale proceeds in trust for the enemy until the end of hostilities.

Impact of the act

Daimler Co Ltd v Continental Tyre and Rubber Co (GB) Ltd, 1916 created case law as regards a company as a legal person, just like a natural person. can have enemy character though established in the UK. The Hamburg-Amerika House, premises of the

Hamburg America Line The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent citi ...

, 14-16

Cockspur Street Cockspur Street is a short street in the City of Westminster, London, within which a very short part of Trafalgar Square links Charing Cross to Pall Mall/Pall Mall East at the point where that road changes name, opposite the traffic exit from ...

, London, were offered for sale in 1917. The buyer was required to fill in a form to confirm on purchase that they were not purchasing on behalf of any nation "at war with Great Britain".

References

United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1914 Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament Treason in the United Kingdom World War I legislation Economic warfare {{UK-statute-stub

Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act 1916

Impact of the act

See also

References