The Offences at Sea Act 1799 (39 Geo III c.37) is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The long title of the Act is "An Act for remedying certain Defects in the Law respecting Offences committed upon the High Seas." It is still in force. It extended the jurisdiction of British courts to crimes committed by British subjects on the high seas. It does not apply to foreign citizens. (However crimes committed by foreigners in British territorial waters, or on board British ships on the high seas, can be prosecuted in British courts.)
Jurisdiction over piracy on the high seas already existed before 1799, whether committed by British subjects or not.
Famous quotes containing the words offences, sea and/or act:
“A strong argument for the religion of Christ is this—that offences against Charity are about the only ones which men on their death-beds can be made—not to understand—but to feel—as crime.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 14:21,22.
“The experience of a sense of guilt for wrong-doing is necessary for the development of self-control. The guilt feelings will later serve as a warning signal which the child can produce himself when an impulse to repeat the naughty act comes over him. When the child can produce his on warning signals, independent of the actual presence of the adult, he is on the way to developing a conscience.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)