Hovering Acts, Great Britain

Hovering Acts
A British revenue cutter crew boarding a smuggling ship during the Georgian era.
Parliament of Great Britain
  • An act for the more effectual preventing the clandestine running of customs goods.
Citation5 Geo. 1. c. 11
Territorial extentKingdom of Great Britain
Enacted byKing George I
Enacted1718
Status: Repealed

The Hovering Acts were a series of anti-smuggling laws imposed during the Georgian era in the Kingdom of Great Britain, against smugglers and smuggling ships avoiding import taxes.[1] The government of the Kingdom of Great Britain put a restriction on boat design; as usage of custom-built, highly fast boats was common to transport illegal goods.

Key Legislation

The first act was passed in 1718 under the reign of King George I. Originally, Britain had stretched their outside border at maximum 3 miles. This meant that any ships that stayed outside of 3 miles, were not allowed to be searched by the government, which is why they stretched it to 12 miles to make it harder for smuggling.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Hovering Acts". Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Oxford University Press. 2008.
  2. ↑ Williams, Neville (1959). Contraband Cargoes: Seven Centuries of Smuggling. Archon Books.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.