# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 3/13th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 57

Chap. LVII.—An Act to prohibit the use of licenses or passes granted by the authority of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Repealed by act of march 3, 1815, chap. 84, sec. 3. Penalty for using or disposing of British licenses.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any citizen or inhabitant of the United States, or the territories thereof, who shall obtain or use either directly or indirectly, a license, pass, or other instrument granted by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or by any officer or agent thereof, for the protection of any ship, vessel, or merchandise on the high seas or elsewhere, or for the admission of any ship, vessel, or merchandise into any port or place whatever; and any ​citizen or inhabitant as aforesaid, who shall be either directly or indirectly concerned or assisting in obtaining, using, granting, or selling any such license, pass, or instrument, shall, upon conviction, for every such offence, forfeit a sum equal to twice the value of any such ship, vessel, and merchandise, and shall moreover be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined in a sum not exceeding five thousand nor less than one thousand dollars; and any ship, vessel, or merchandise, owned in whole or in part by any citizen or inhabitant of the United States, or of the territories thereof, which shall, five days after the promulgation of this act in the nearest port, be found in the waters or within the jurisdiction of the United States, having or using a license, pass, or other instrument as aforesaid, shall be forfeited, the one half to the use of the United States, and the other half to any person or persons who shall give information thereof, and produce or procure evidence of the fact; the duties, if any, which may be payable on the importation of such merchandise, being previously paid or deducted from the proceeds of such forfeiture: Provided, however,Proviso. That the claim of any such person or persons, as derived from this act, shall not be admitted to bar, defeat, or affect any forfeiture accrued to the United States, or to any other person, which shall have been incurred by reason of an infraction of any other law of the United States.
Vessels sailing with such licenses to be considered and treated as British.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That any ship or vessel of the United States sailing under, or found on the high seas using a license, pass, or instrument, as described in the preceding section of this act, shall be considered and held as sailing under the flag of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and it shall be lawful for the commanders of the public and private armed ships and vessels of the United States and the territories thereof; to stop and examine any ship or vessel of the United States or their territories, on the high seas or elsewhere, which there may be reasonable ground to suspect is sailing under the protection of, or using any such license, pass, or other instrument as aforesaid; and if upon examination it shall appear that such ship or vessel is sailing under the protection of, or using any such license, pass, or other instrument, it shall be the duty of such commanders, and of each of them, to seize every such ship or vessel, and send the same to any port in the United States or the territories thereof; and every such ship or vessel, so found sailing under the protection of, or using any such license, pass, or other instrument as aforesaid, shall, upon due proof thereof, before any court of the United States or the territories thereof, having competent jurisdiction, be condemned, together with the cargo, and be forfeited to the sole use of the officers and crew of such public or private armed ship or vessel; and all forfeitures which shall accrue and be recovered in pursuance of this section, shall be distributed according to the rules prescribed by the existing laws, in cases of prizes made from the enemy: Provided,Proviso. That nothing contained in this act, shall be so construed as to prevent the acceptance or use of a passport or any other paper authorized by the government of the United States, or the acceptance or use of a passport granted by the commander of any ship of war of the enemy to any ship or vessel of the United States, which may have been captured and given up for the purpose of carrying persons captured by the enemy to the United States.
Vessels within the jurisdiction of the United States sailing after the promulgation of this act, and arriving in the United States from certain latitudes, to be subject to the operation of this act.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That every ship or vessel belonging wholly, or in part, to a citizen or citizens, inhabitant or inhabitants of the United States, which shall depart or clear out from any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States, after the promulgation utter the proof this act at such port or place, shall be subject to the operation of the same; and that every ship or vessel owned as aforesaid, if the same be in any part of Europe, of the Mediterranean, or the western coast of Africa, or between the same and the United States, at the passage of this ​act, after the first day of November next; and if at any port or place to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, or between the same and the United States, after the first day of January next; and if in either case such vessel arrive in the United States previous to the said periods respectively, then, after her arrival, shall in like manner be subject to the operation of this act: Provided,Proviso. That if any such ship or vessel be, in either of the foregoing cases, delayed by stress of weather or other unavoidable accident, from returning to the United States within the periods above stated, the same shall not be subject to the operation of this act, until a sufficient time shall have elapsed after a knowledge thereof, for her return to the United States: And provided also,Proviso. That nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to arrest or stay any prosecution or judicial proceeding now pending in any court of the United States or the territories thereof, instituted against any citizen or inhabitant of the United States, for using, or against any ship or vessel belonging wholly or in part to any citizen or citizens, inhabitant or inhabitants of the United States, for sailing under the protection of a license or pass granted by the authority of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or by any person or persons acting under the authority of the same.
Approved, August 2, 1813.