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COAST-GUARD SERVICE ACT 1856
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CAP. LXXXIII.
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An Act to provide for the better Defence of the Coasts of the Realm, and the more ready Manning of the Navy, and to transfer to the Admiralty the Government of the Coast Guard. [29th July 1856.]
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‘Whereas it is expedient to make better Provision for the Defence of the Coasts of the Realm, and for the more ready Manning of Her Majesty’s Navy in case of War or sudden Emergency, as well as for the Protection of Her Majesty’s Revenue: And whereas it is expedient that the Officers and Men to be employed for these Purposes should be under the Control and Authority of the Commissioners of the Admiralty, and that the existing Force now employed in the Coast Guard and in the Revenue Cruisers should be placed under their Control:’ Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:
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Short Title.
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I. In citing this Act for any Purpose, it shall be sufficient to use the Expression “The Coast-guard Service Act 1856.”
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Interpretation of the Terms herein set forth.
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II. In this Act the Words and Expressions following shall have the Meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, unless there be something in the Subject or Context repugnant to such Construction; (that is to say,)
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“The Commissioners of the Admiralty” shall mean the Commissioners for the Time being for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or any Two or more of them, and the Lord High Admiral, when Her Majesty shall be pleased to appoint a Lord High Admiral:
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“Commissioners of the Treasury” shall mean the Lords Commissioners for executing the Office of the Lord High Treasurer:
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“The Commissioners of the Customs” shall mean the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Customs:
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“The existing Coast Guard” shall mean the Officers and Men who shall be employed in the Service commonly called the Coast-guard Service and in the Revenue Cruisers on the Day to be named in Writing by the Commissioners of the Treasury, as herein-after mentioned:
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“The Coast Guard” shall mean the Officers and Men to be employed and maintained by the Commissioners of the Admiralty under the Authority of this Act:
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“Person” shall include any Body Politic or Corporate as well as any Individual:
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“Lands” shall include all Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, and every Estate, Right, Title, and Interest therein.
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Coast Guard, after Order from Treasury, shall be raised and governed by Admiralty.
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III. From and after such Day as shall be named for that Purpose by the Commissioners of the Treasury, by Writing under their Hands, such Number of Officers and Men as the Commissioners of the Admiralty may from Time to Time think fit (but so that the whole Number of Officers and Men constituting the Coast Guard shall not at any One Time exceed Ten thousand) shall be employed, raised, maintained, equipped, and governed by the Commissioners of the Admiralty, and such Officers and Men shall be and constitute and form the Coast Guard; and the Commissioners of the Admiralty shall and may have and exercise over and with reference to the Coast Guard all the Powers, Authorities, Control, Government, Rights, Privileges, and Immunities which shall be vested in or which may be had or exercised by any Person or Persons whomsoever over or in any way affecting the existing Coast Guard.
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Lands held for existing Coastguard Service to be vested in Admiralty.
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IV. All Lands held for the Purposes of the existing Coast-guard Service under the Authority of any Act or otherwise, and all other Property whatsoever held, possessed, or used for the like Purposes, shall, from and after such Day as shall be named by the Commissioners of the Treasury as aforesaid, become and be vested in and be the Property of the Commissioners of the Admiralty, in trust for Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, for the Public Service; and the Commissioners of the Admiralty may from Time to Time sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of to such Persons as they shall think fit any Lands which may become vested in them under the Authority of this Act, or in the Exercise of the Powers thereby given, and the Monies payable on or by reason of such Sales, Exchange, or Disposal shall be paid to Her Majesty’s Paymaster General for the Time being (or to such other Person as the said Paymaster General shall appoint), and the Receipt of such Paymaster General (or other Person) endorsed on the Conveyance or Assignment shall be an effectual Discharge.
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Power to Admiralty to acquire Lands for Coast-guard Stations.
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V. The Commissioners of the Admiralty may from Time to Time, by any Writing under their Hands, authorize any Person to survey and mark out any Lands not exceeding Three Acres, at or for any One Coast-guard Station which may be wanted for the Purposes of the Coast-guard Service, with all necessary Way: unto and from the same, and may authorize any Person, by Warrant, to treat and agree with the proper Parties for the Purchase of such Lands, or the Possession thereof; and the Sections of the Act passed in the Seventeenth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter One hundred and seven, numbered respectively from Three hundred and thirty-six to Three hundred and forty-five (each inclusive), and all Sections of other Acts therein mentioned, shall be and are hereby incorporated with this Act; and whenever in any of the Sections of any Act so hereby incorporated the Expression “the Commissioners of the Treasury,” or the Expression “the Commissioners of Customs,” shall occur, each of such Expressions shall for the Purposes of this Act he deemed and taken to mean the Commissioners of the Admiralty, and whenever in any of such Sections the Expression “the Officers of Customs” shall occur, such Expression shall for the Purposes of this Act be deemed and taken to mean Officers of the Coast Guard.
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Powers, &c. of existing Coast Guard vested in Coast Guard.
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VI. All Laws for the Protection of the existing Coast Guard, and all Rights, Authorities, Powers, Privileges, and Immunities which shall be vested in or may be had or exercised by them, shall be applicable to and be vested in and had and exercised by the Coast Guard.
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Coast Guard to have certain Privileges as Persons serving in the Fleet.
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VII. All Officers and Men employed in the Coast Guard, and borne on the Books of any Ship or Ships belonging to Her Majesty’s Fleet, shall have the same Privileges of making Allotments of Wages, and of making Remittances, and otherwise have the Benefit of and be subject to the Provisions of the Laws relating to the Pay of Her Majesty’s Navy, in like Manner as Officers and Men of their respective Ratings in Her Majesty’s Navy, and the Laws concerning the Discharge of Seamen serving on board Her Majesty’s Ships, and becoming entitled to be discharged, (except as altered or affected by this Act,) shall be applicable to the Discharge of any of such Officers and Men becoming entitled to be discharged; and Time served in the Coast Guard shall be reckoned and count for the Purposes of Pensions to such Men, as if such Men had served the same Time as Men in Full Pay and actual Service in Her Majesty’s Fleet.
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Coast Guard borne on Books of Vessels of War to be subject to the same Laws and Customs as Persons serving in the Fleet.
As to summary Punishment.
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VIII. All the Laws, Statutes, Articles, Orders, and Customs for the Time being in force for the Government of Her Majesty’s Ships and Vessels and Forces by Sea, and applicable to any Offence, or the Trial and Punishment of any Offence, committed on the Main Sea, or elsewhere, by any Person in or belonging to the Fleet, or by any Person in actual Service and Full Pay, and Part of the Crew of any of Her Majesty’s Ships or Vessels of War, shall be applicable to such of the Officers and Men of the Coast Guard as shall from Time to Time be borne on the Books of any Ship or Ships belonging to Her Majesty’s Fleet, and to the like Offences by them committed in any Place whatsoever, whilst serving in the Coast-guard Service on shore; and every Officer of the Coast Guard authorized by the Commissioners of the Admiralty, by Commission or Warrant under their Hand, shall from Time to Time have and exercise over the Petty Officers and Men of the Coast Guard under his Command borne on any Ship’s Books as aforesaid, and serving in such Coast-guard Service on shore, such and the like Powers of ordering and inflicting Punishment of Offences by such Officers or Men in any Place whatsoever committed, as by the Laws and Customs of Her Majesty’s Navy, or by any Act of Parliament, or otherwise, may for the Time being be lawfully had and exercised by any Officer commanding any of Her Majesty’s Ships and Vessels of War over the Petty Officers and Men thereof in respect of Offences by them committed; and when any Petty Officers or Men of the Coast Guard shall be punished by Imprisonment under any Sentence or Order of any such Officer of the Coast Guard, they may be imprisoned in any of Her Majesty’s Gaols, or in any House of Correction, or in any other Prison in which Petty Officers or Men serving in Her Majesty’s Navy may for the Time being lawfully be imprisoned by Sentence or Order of any Officer commanding any of Her Majesty’s Ships or Vessels, but no such Order for Imprisonment to be made by any such Officer of the Coast Guard so authorized as aforesaid shall have any Force or Effect until the same shall have been approved of by Writing under the Hand of the Officer of the Coast Guard for the Time being commanding the District within which the Offence shall have been committed; and all Petty Officers and Men of the Coast Guard, when so sentenced or ordered to be imprisoned, or when so imprisoned respectively, shall be deemed and taken to be within the Provisions, as to Persons sentenced to be imprisoned or imprisoned respectively, of an Act of the Eleventh Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter Sixty-two, which Act, and the Act passed in the Seventeenth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter Sixty-nine, shall, so far as the same are or may be applicable, be respectively incorporated with this Act, and be held to apply to the Officers and Men of the Coast Guard borne on Ships Books as aforesaid, and serving in the Coast-guard Service on shore.
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Constitution of Court-martial.
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IX. Any Court-martial constituted according to the Act of the Twenty-second Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Second, Chapter Thirty-three, shall be a Court-martial properly constituted for the Trial of Offences committed by any Officers or Men of the Coast Guard borne on Ships Books as aforesaid, and serving in the Coast-guard Service on shore, wheresoever such Offences shall or may be committed.
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Officers of Coast Guard may command Royal Naval Coast Volunteers.
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X. The Officers of the Coast Guard shall be deemed and taken to be Officers by whom the Royal Naval Coast Volunteers may be instructed, trained, and exercised, and to whose Command such Volunteers may be made subject, under the Provisions of the Act passed in the Seventeenth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter Seventy-three.
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Act may be registered in Guernsey and Jersey.
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XI. This Act shall extend to the Isle of Man, and to the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and their Dependencies, and shall be registered in the Royal Courts of the Islands of Guernsey and Jersey respectively, and the said Royal Courts respectively shall have full Power and Authority and are hereby required to register the same.
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