Preparations For War
The Defence Regulations existed in draft form, constantly revised, throughout the inter-war period. In early 1939 it was decided, since a war might break out without warning or time to pass an Act of Parliament to bring in emergency regulations, that the Regulations should be split into two codes. Code A would be needed immediately if war broke out and could be passed in peacetime, while Code B (containing the more severe restrictions on civil liberties) would be brought in later.
In order not to alert the public to the existence of Code B, Code A was simply numbered consecutively. Defence Regulation 18 concerned restrictions on movement of aircraft. It was originally intended that Code B would be imposed by an Order in Council, with retrospective indemnity being granted by an Act of Parliament should anyone dispute the actions of the authorities.
When tension rose over Poland, the House of Commons was recalled from its summer recess on 24 August 1939 to pass the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act which gave authority to implement the Defence Regulations. Code A was brought into effect that day, and Code B followed on 1 September. Foreigners (enemy aliens) were detained using powers under the Royal Prerogative while 18B was used mainly for British nationals.
Read more about this topic: Defence Regulation 18B
Famous quotes containing the words preparations for, preparations and/or war:
“At the ramparts on the cliff near the old Parliament House I counted twenty-four thirty-two-pounders in a row, pointed over the harbor, with their balls piled pyramid-wise between them,—there are said to be in all about one hundred and eighty guns mounted at Quebec,—all which were faithfully kept dusted by officials, in accordance with the motto, “In time of peace prepare for war”; but I saw no preparations for peace: she was plainly an uninvited guest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Whatever may be the reason, whether it was that Hitler thought he might get away with what he had got without fighting for it, or whether it was that after all the preparations were not sufficiently complete—however, one thing is certain: he missed the bus.”
—Neville Chamberlain (1869–1940)
“This is no war for domination or imperial aggrandisement or material gain.... It is a war ... to establish, on impregnable rocks, the rights of the individual and it is a war to establish and revive the stature of man.”
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965)