STATUTES, PROCLAMATIONS, RULES, ORDERS, ETC. 967 



Her Majesty's dominions to such a distance as is necessary for the 

 defence and security of such dominions: 



And whereas it is expedient that all offences committed on the open 

 sea within a certain distance of the coasts of the United Kingdom 

 and of all other parts of Her Majesty's dominions, by whomsoever 

 committed, should be dealt with according to law : 



Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by 

 and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, 

 and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the au- 

 thority of the same, as follows : 



1. This Act may be cited as the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction 

 Act, 1878. 



2. An offence committed by a person, whether he is or is not a 

 subject of Her Majesty, on the open sea within the territorial waters 

 of Her Majesty's dominions, is an offence within the jurisdiction of 

 the Admiral, although it may have been committed on board or by 

 means of a foreign ship, and the person who committed such offence 

 may be arrested, tried, and punished accordingly. 



3. Proceedings for the trial and punishment of a person who is not 

 a subject of Her Majesty, and who is charged with any such offence 

 as is declared by this Act to be within the jurisdiction of the Ad- 

 miral, shall not be instituted in any court of the United Kingdom, 

 except with the consent of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries 

 of State, and on his certificate that the institution of such proceedings 

 is in his opinion expedient, and shall not be instituted in any of the 

 dominions of Her Majesty out of the United Kingdom, except with 

 the leave of the Governor of the part of the dominions in which such 

 proceedings are proposed to be instituted, and on his certificate that 

 it is expedient that such proceedings should be instituted. 



4. On the trial of any person who is not a subject of Her Majesty 

 for an offence declared by this Act to be within the jurisdiction of 

 the Admiral, it shall not be necessary to aver in any indictment or 

 information on such trial that such consent or certificate of the Secre- 

 tary of State or Governor as is required by this Act has been given, 

 and the fact of the same having been given shall be presumed unless 

 disputed by the defendant at the trial ; and the production of a docu- 

 ment purporting to be signed by one of Her Majesty's Principal 

 Secretaries of State as respects the United Kingdom, and by the 

 Governor as respects any other part of Her Majesty's dominions, and 

 containing such consent and certificate, shall be sufficient evidence 

 for all the purposes of this Act of the consent and certificate required 

 by this Act. 



Proceedings before a justice of the peace or other magistrate pre- 

 vious to the committal of an offender for trial or to the determination 

 of the justice or magistrate that the offender is to be put upon his 

 trial shall not be deemed proceedings for the trial of the offence 

 committed by such offender for the purposes of the said consent and 

 certificate under this Act. 



5. Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to be in deroga- 

 tion of any rightful jurisdiction of Her Majesty, her heirs or succes- 

 sors, under the law of nations, or to affect or prejudice any juris- 

 diction conferred by Act of Parliament or now by law existing in 

 relation to foreign ships or in relation to persons on board such ships. 



