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NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - LONG TITLE

An Act to carry into effect an International Convention respecting
the Liquor Traffic in the North Sea.
[29th June 1893]
Confirmation of Convention.

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 1

1. The Convention set out in the schedule to this Act (hereinafter
referred to as the scheduled Convention) is, with the Protocol
thereto annexed, hereby confirmed, and the articles thereof shall be
of the same force as if they were enacted in the body of this
Act.

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 2
Penalty for supplying, exchanging, or otherwise selling spirits.

2. If within the North Sea limits but outside territorial waters
any person on board or belonging to a British vessel supplies
spirituous liquors to any person on board or belonging to a sea
fishing boat he shall be liable

(a)if the liquors are supplied in exchange for any article not
belonging to the person supplied, to a fine not exceeding fifty
pounds, or, in the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding three months, ...; and

(b)if the liquors are sold otherwise than by way of exchange for
any such article, to a fine not exceeding thirty pounds, or in the
discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
three months, ....

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 3
Penalty for purchasing spirits by exchange or otherwise.

3. If within the North Sea limits but outside territorial waters
any person on board or belonging to a British sea fishing boat
purchases spirituous liquors, he shall be liable

(a)if he gives any article not belonging to him in exchange for
the liquors, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or, in the
discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
three months, ...; and

(b)if he purchases the liquors otherwise than by way of exchange
for any such article, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 4
Penalty for breach of licence.

4. If within the North Sea limits but outside territorial waters
any person on board or belonging to a British vessel deals with
any person on board or belonging to a sea fishing boat in any
provisions or other articles for his use, except spirituous liquors,
without a licence granted in pursuance of Article Three of the
scheduled Convention, or without carrying on his vessel the mark
agreed upon in pursuance of that Article, or in contravention of
any conditions of a licence so granted, he shall be liable to a
fine not exceeding twenty pounds, and his licence may be revoked.

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 5
Power to make regulations as to licences and other matters.

5. Her Majesty the Queen may from time to time by Order in
Council make regulations for any of the following purposes:

(a)for prescribing the mode in which licences under Article Three of
the Scheduled Convention are to be granted, renewed, and revoked;
and

(b)for prescribing the mode of application for such licences, and
the conditions under which, and the time for which, the licences
are to be granted; and

(c)generally for giving effect to any of the provisions of this Act
or any of the articles of the scheduled convention.

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 6
Enforcement of Act.

6. For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this Act in the
case of British and foreign vessels, whether within or beyond the
North Sea limits, all British and foreign sea fishery officers
respectively within the meaning of the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883,
shall have the same powers, and be entitled to the same protection,
as they have and are entitled to for the purpose of enforcing the
provisions of that Act in the case of British and foreign sea
fishing boats respectively.

Provided that in the case of a vessel not being either a sea
fishing boat or a vessel habitually employed in dealing with
fishermen the power of a sea fishery officer to take the vessel to
any port shall not be exercised, unless the sea fishery officer is
satisfied that its exercise is necessary for the suppression of
grave disorder.

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 7
Legal proceedings.

7. Sections sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, and
twenty-two of the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883, shall apply in the case
of offences, fines, and legal proceedings under this Act in the
same manner as they apply in the case of offences, fines, and
legal proceedings under that Act, and in those sections as so
applied the expression "sea fishing boat" shall include any vessel.

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 8
Evidence.

8. Section seventeen of the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883, shall apply in
the case of any formal statement drawn up in pursuance of Article
Seven of the scheduled Convention in the same manner as it applies
in the case of any document drawn up in pursuance of the
Convention set out in the First Schedule to that Act.

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 9
Definitions.

9. In this Act

The expression "North Sea limits" shall mean the limits of the
North Sea as fixed by Article Four of the Convention set out in
the First Schedule to the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883.

The expression "territorial waters" shall mean the territorial waters
of Her Majesty's dominions as defined by the Territorial Waters
Jurisdiction Act, 1878.

The expression "sea fishing boat" shall have the same meaning as in
the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883.

The expression "vessel" shall include ship, boat, lighter, and craft
of every kind, whether navigated by steam or otherwise.

The expression "spirituous liquors" shall include every liquid
obtained by distillation and containing more than five per centum of
alcohol.

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 10
Continuance and application of Act.

10.Subs.(1) rep. by SLR 1908

(2) The provisions of this Act relating to the sea fishery officers
of any foreign State bound by the Convention set out in the First
Schedule to the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883, shall continue in operation
notwithstanding the termination of the operation of that Convention
as respects that foreign State.

(3) So much of this Act as has effect outside territorial waters
shall, if the scheduled Convention ceases to be binding on Her
Majesty, cease to apply to the vessels and officers of any foreign
State bound by the scheduled Convention, but, subject as aforesaid,
this Act shall continue in force notwithstanding the determination of
the scheduled Convention.

(4) A notification in the London Gazette shall be sufficient
evidence of the adhesion of any foreign State to the scheduled
Convention, and of the application of this Act to the vessels and
officers of any foreign States.

S.11 rep. by SLR 1908

NORTH SEA FISHERIES ACT 1893 - SECT 12
Short title.

12. This Act may be cited as the North Sea Fisheries Act, 1893.

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, in the
name of the German Empire, His Majesty the King of the Belgians,
His Majesty the King of Denmark, the President of the French
Republic, and His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, having
recognised the necessity of remedying the abuses arising from the
traffic in spirituous liquors amongst the fishermen in the North Sea
outside territorial waters, have resolved to conclude a Convention
for this purpose, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is
to say:

Names etc. of plenipotentiaries

Who, after having communicated their full powers, found in good and
due form, have agreed upon the following Articles:

The provisions of the present Convention shall apply to the North
Sea, outside territorial waters, and within the limits fixed by
Article IV. of the Convention of the Hague of the 6th May, 1882,
respecting the police of the fisheries to every person on board a
ship or boat of any one of the High Contracting Parties.

The sale of spirituous liquors to persons on board or belonging to
fishing-boats is forbidden.

The purchase of those liquors by such persons is forbidden.

The exchange of spirituous liquors for any article, and especially
for products of the fisheries, gear or equipments of fishing boats,
or fishing implements is forbidden.

Every liquid obtained by distillation, and containing more than five
litres of alcohol per hectolitre, shall be considered a spirituous
liquor.

The liberty to deal with fishermen in provisions and other articles
for their use (spirituous liquors excepted) shall be subject to a
licence to be granted by the Government of the country to which
the vessel belongs. This licence must specify the following amongst
other conditions:

1.The vessel may not have on board a quantity of spirits greater
than what is deemed requisite for the consumption of her crew.

2.All exchange of the articles above indicated for products of the
fisheries, gear, or equipments of fishing-boats, or fishing
implements, is forbidden.

Vessels provided with this licence must carry a special and uniform
mark to be agreed upon by the High Contracting Powers.

The High Contracting Parties engage to take, or to propose to their
respective Legislatures, the necessary measures for insuring the
execution of the present Convention, and especially for punishing, by
either fine or imprisonment, or by both, those who may contravene
Articles II. and III.

The Tribunals competent to take cognisance of infractions of Articles
II. and III. are those of the country to which the accused vessel
belongs. If vessels of different nationalities should be implicated
in the same infraction, the Powers to which such vessels belong
will mutually communicate to each other the Judgments given by the
Tribunals.

Prosecutions for infractions shall be instituted by the State, or in
its name.

Infractions may be verified by all means of proof allowed by the
legislation of the country of the Court concerned.

The superintendence shall be exercised by the cruisers of the High
Contracting Parties which are charged with the police of the
fisheries.

When the officers commanding these cruisers have reason to believe
that an infraction of the measures provided for in the present
Convention has been committed, they may require the captain or
master to exhibit the official documents establishing the nationality
of his vessel, and where the case occurs, the licence. The fact of
such documents having been exhibited shall then be indorsed upon
them immediately.

Further, formal statements of the facts may be drawn up by the
said officers whatever may be the nationality of the accused vessel.
These formal statements shall be drawn up according to the forms
and in the language used in the country to which the officer
belongs; they may be used as means of proof in the country where
they are adduced, and conformably with the laws of that country.
The accused and the witnesses shall be entitled to add or to have
added thereto, in their own language, any explanations which they
may think useful. These declarations must be duly signed.

Resistance to the directions of Commanders of cruisers, or of those
who act under their orders, shall, without taking into account the
nationality of the cruisers, be considered as resistance to national
authority.

The Commander of the cruiser may, if the case appears to him
sufficiently serious to justify the step, take the offending vessel
into a port of the nation to which she belongs.

The proceedings in respect of infractions of the provisions of the
present Convention shall always take place as summarily as the Laws
and Regulations will permit.

The High Contracting Parties will communicate to each other, at the
time of the exchange of ratifications, the Laws which shall have
been made in their respective countries in relation to the object
of the present Convention.

States which have not signed the present Convention may adhere to
it on making a request to that effect. This adhesion shall be
notified through the diplomatic channel to the Government of the
Netherlands, and by the latter to the other Signatory Powers.

The present Convention shall be brought into operation from and
after a day to be agreed upon by the High Contracting Parties.

It shall remain in force for five years from that day, and, unless
any of the High Contracting Parties shall, twelve months before the
expiration of the said period of five years, have given notice of
its intention to terminate its operation, it shall remain in force
for one year longer, and so on from year to year.

If the Convention of the Hague of the 6th May, 1882, respecting
the police of the fisheries, should cease to be in force, Article
XXVI. of the same Convention shall continue to operate as regards
the object of the present arrangement.

The present Convention shall be ratified; the ratifications shall be
exchanged at the Hague as soon as possible, and, if practicable,
within a year.

In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the
present Convention, and have thereto affixed their seals.

Done at the Hague, in six copies, the 16th November 1887

Signatures of plenipotentiaries

Whereas it appears from the communications which have been received
by the Government of the Netherlands that the Government of the
French Republic is not at present in a position to proceed to the
ratification of the Convention which was signed at the Hague on the
16th November 1887, for remedying the abuses arising from the
traffic in spirituous liquors amongst the fishermen in the North Sea
outside territorial waters, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries of Great
Britain, of Germany, of Belgium, of Denmark, and Minister for
Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, having met in
conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Hague this
14th day of February 1893, and being duly authorised to that effect
have agreed as follows:

1.The above-mentioned Convention shall be brought into force by the
other signatory Governments, namely, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium,
Denmark, and the Netherlands, six weeks after they shall have
exchanged the ratifications thereof.

2.The power of adhesion accorded by Article X. of the said
Convention for non-Signatory States is extended to France.

3.In modification of Article XI. of the Convention the periods of
five years and twelve months are respectively reduced to one year
and to three months.

4.The present protocol, which shall be ratified at the same time as
the Convention to which it refers, has been drawn up in five
copies.

Signatures of plenipotentiaries