Memorandum on the Licensing System for the Control of Exports of Arms, prepared by the Board of Trade in collaboration with the Foreign Office, Admiralty, War Office, Air Ministry and Board of Customs and Excise.
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History of the Control of Exports of Arms from
the United Kingdom.
Legislation.
1.
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Legislation empowering the prohibition of export of
Arms and Ammunition is traceable as far back as the Tonnages
and Poundages Act (12 Charles II, Cap.. 4), and these powers
are perpetuated in several later Acts, e、g. 1755, 1825,
1833 and 1845. In Section 112 of the last-quoted Act
(Customs Act, 1845) there is set out in a Table of Prohibitions
and Restrictions Outwards, the following list of goods which
may be prohibited to be exported by Proclamation
in Council:-
Arms, Ammunition and Gunpowder.
or Order
Military Stores, Naval Stores and any Articles (except
Copper), which Her Majesty shall judge capable of being converted into or made useful in increasing the Quantity of Military or Naval Stores.
Provisions or any Sort of Victual which may be used as
Food by Man.
The penalty for contravention of an export prohibition was
forfeiture of the goods.
2. With the addition of a clause to cover goods "carried
coastwise" this provision was embodied in section 150 of the
Customs Consolidation Act of 1853, which, in turn, was re-
enacted without amendment in Section 138 of the Customs
Consolidation Act, 1876, and was repeated in Section 8 of
the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1879, in similar words
with the provision, in addition, of a fine for contravention
of a prohibition, where previously the only penalty had been
forfeiture. This last section is still in force.
So far, an Order or Proclamation prohibiting the
export of arms could only be general, that is to say, any
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