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issued his warrant under this Act releases the ship before any application is made by the owner or his agent to the court for such release.

25. The Secretary of State or the chief executive authority may, by warrant, empower any person to enter any dockyard or other place within Her Majesty's dominions and enquire as to the destination of any ship which may appear to him to be intended to be employed in the naval or military service of any foreign State at war with a friendly State, and to search. such ship.

26. Any powers or jurisdiction by this Act given to the Secretary of State may be exercised by him throughout the dominions of Her Majesty, and such powers or jurisdiction may also be exercised by any of the following officers, in this Act referred to as the chief executive authority within their respective jurisdictions; that is to say,

(1) In Ireland by the Lord Lieutenant or other the chief governor or governors of Ireland for the time being, or the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant:

(2) In Jersey by the Lieutenant Governor:

(3) In Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, and the dependent islands by the Lieutenant Governor:

(4) In the Isle of Man by the Lieutenant Governor:

(5) In any British possession by the Governor.

A copy of any warrant issued by a Secretary of State or by any officer authorized in pursuance of this Act to issue such warrant in Ireland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man, shall be laid before Parliament.

27. An appeal may be had from any decision of a Court of Admiralty under this Act to the same tribunal and in the same manner to and in which an appeal may be had in cases within the ordinary jurisdiction of the court as a Court of Admiralty.

28. Subject to the provisions of this Act provided for the award of damages in certain cases in respect of the seizure or detention of a ship by the Court of Admiralty no damages shall be payable, and no officer or local authority shall be respon

sible, either civilly or criminally, in respect of the seizure or detention of any ship in pursuance of this Act.

29. The Secretary of State shall not, nor shall the chief executive authority, be responsible in any action or other legal proceedings whatsoever for any warrant issued by him in pursuance of this Act, or be examinable as a witness, except at his own request, in any court of justice in respect of the circumstances which led to the issue of the warrant.

Interpretation Clause

30. In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context, the following terms have the meanings hereinafter respectively assigned to them; that is to say,

'Foreign State' includes any foreign prince, colony, province, or part of any province or people, or any person or persons exercising, or assuming to exercise the powers of government in or over any foreign country, colony, province, or part of any province or people: 'Military Service' shall include military telegraphy and any other employment whatever, in or in connection with, any military operation: 'Naval Service' shall, as respects a person, include service as a marine, employment as a pilot in piloting or directing the course of a ship of war or other ship when such ship of war or other ship is being used in any military or naval operation, and any employment whatever on board a ship of war, transport, store-ship, privateer or ship under letters of marque; and as respects a ship, includes any uses of a ship as a transport, store-ship, privateer or ship under letters of marque:

'United Kingdom' includes the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and other adjacent islands: 'British possession' means any territory, colony, or place being part of Her Majesty's dominions, and not part of the United Kingdom as defined by this Act. 'The Secretary of State' shall mean any one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State: 'The Governor' shall, as respects India, mean the Governor-General or the Governor of any Presidency, and where a British possession consists of several constituent colonies, mean the Governor-General

of the whole possession or the Governor of any of the constituent colonies, and as respects any other British possession, it shall mean the officer for the time being administering the government of such possession, also any person acting for or in the capacity of a Governor shall be included under the term 'Governor':

'Court of Admiralty' shall mean the high Court of Admiralty of England or Ireland, the Court of Session of Scotland, or any Vice-Admiralty Court within Her Majesty's dominions: 'Ship' shall include any description of boat, vessel, floating battery, or floating craft; also any description of boat, vessel, or other craft or battery, made to move either on the surface of, or under water, or sometimes on the surface of, and sometimes under water.

'Building' in relation to the ship shall include the doing any act towards or incidental to the construction of a ship, and all words having relation to building shall be construed accordingly:

'Equipping' in relation to a ship, shall include the furnishing a ship with any tackle, apparel, furniture, provisions, arms, munitions, or stores, or any other thing which is used in or about a ship for the purpose of fitting or adapting her for the sea or for naval service, and all words relating to equipping shall be construed accordingly:

'Ship and equipment' shall include a ship and everything in or belonging to a ship:

'Master' shall include any person having the charge or command of a ship.

Repeal of Acts, and Saving Clauses

31. From and after the commencement of this Act, an Act passed in the 59th year of the reign of His Late Majesty King George the Third, chapter 69, entitled 'An Act to prevent the enlistment and engagement of His Majesty's subjects to serve in foreign service, and the fitting-out or equipping, in His Majesty's dominions, vessels for warlike purposes, without His Majesty's licence' shall be repealed: Provided that such repeal

shall not affect any penalty, forfeiture, or other punishment incurred or to be incurred in respect of any offence committed. before this Act comes into operation, nor the institution of any investigation or legal proceedings or any other remedy for enforcing any such penalty, forfeiture, or punishment as aforesaid.

32. Nothing in this Act contained shall subject to forfeiture any commissioned ship of any foreign State, or give to any British court over or in respect of any ship entitled to recognition as a commissioned ship of any foreign State any jurisdiction which it would not have had if this Act had not passed.

33. Nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to subject to any penalty any person who enters into the military service of any prince, State or potentate in Asia, with such leave or licence as is for the time being required by law in the case of subjects of Her Majesty entering into the military service of princes, States or potentates in Asia.

3. British Proclamation of Neutrality in the War of 1904-1905 between Russia and Japan

BY THE KING A PROCLAMATION

Edward, R. and I.

Whereas We are happily at Peace with all Sovereigns, Powers, and States:

And whereas a State of War unhappily exists between his Majesty The Emperor of All The Russias, and his Majesty The Emperor of Japan, and between their respective Subjects, and others inhabiting within their Countries, Territories, or Dominions:

And whereas We are on Terms of Friendship and Amicable intercourse with each of these Powers, and with their several Subjects and others inhabiting within their Countries, Territories, or Dominions:

And whereas great Numbers of Our Loyal Subjects reside and carry on Commerce, and possess Property and Establishments, and enjoy various Rights and Privileges, within the Dominions of each of the aforesaid Powers, protected by the Faith of Treaties between Us and each of the aforesaid Powers: And whereas We, being desirous of preserving to Our Subjects the Blessings of Peace, which they now happily enjoy, are firmly purposed and determined to maintain a strict and impartial Neutrality in the said State of War unhappily existing between the aforesaid Powers:

We, therefore, have thought fit, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, to issue this Our Royal Proclamation:

And We do hereby strictly charge and command all Our loving Subjects to govern themselves accordingly, and to observe a strict Neutrality in and during the aforesaid War, and to abstain from violating or contravening either the Laws and Statutes of the Realm in this behalf, or the Law of Nations in relation hereto, as they will answer to the contrary at their Peril:

And whereas in and by a certain Statute made and passed in a Session of Parliament holden in the 33rd and 34th year of the reign of Her Late Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled "An Act to Regulate the conduct of Her Majesty's Subjects during the existence of Hostilities between Foreign States with which her Majesty is at peace," it is, among other things, declared and enacted as follows;

"This Act shall extend to all the Dominions of Her Majesty, including the adjacent territorial Waters:" (Here follows a recitation of sections 4 to 12 of the Foreign Enlistment Act, for which see No. 2 of this Part, pages 286-291.)

And whereas by the said Act it is further provided that Ships built, commissioned, equipped, or despatched in contravention of the said Act, may be condemned and forfeited by Judgment of the Court of Admiralty; and that if the Secretary of State or Chief Executive Authority is satisfied that there is a reasonable and probable cause for believing that a Ship within Our Dominion has been or is being built, commissioned, or equipped,

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