Secretary, Customs,
Secretary,
No.
11053
-1901.
COPY
62
T
Section 8 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1879, which authorises a Proclamation such as the present, provides that goods shipped in contravention to the section "shall be forfeited", that is to say, forfeited to His Majesty.
The said particular goods, therefore, became, as soon as they were carried from the United Kingdom in contravention of the Proclamation, the property of the Crown, and as such, it is apprehended, may be taken possession of by the Crown in any part of its dominions.
This is the practice under the Foreign Enlistment Act, 1870. Vessels which sail contrary to that Act are forfeited to His Majesty; and it is held that even if they should manage to sail from the United Kingdom without detention, they may be seized in the waters of any port of His Majesty's dominions.
Vessels sailing during the war between China and Japan from the United Kingdom, contrary to the Act, were, during that war, detained at Aden. Even apart, however, from this view of the law, it would, undoubtedly, be the case in the Courts here that, if the goods are ordered to be seized, and any action were brought for their seizure, the plaintiff would, under the circumstances, fail to obtain any damages.
I don't think the Colonial Ordinances sent touch the question.
(Sd.) C. J. Follett.
29th June, 1901.