Editing Navigation Acts (section)

==Post-Restoration Navigation Acts to 1696==
Like all laws of the Commonwealth period, the 1651 act was declared void on the [[Stuart Restoration|Restoration]] of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], having been passed by 'usurping powers'. Nonetheless, with benefits of the act widely recognized, Parliament soon passed new legislation which enlarged its scope. While the act of 1651 applied only to shipping, or the ocean carrying business, the 1660 act was the most important piece of commercial legislation as it related to shipbuilding, to navigation, to trade,<ref name="ComPolE"/> and to the benefit of the merchant class.<ref>[[Herbert Levi Osgood]], [https://archive.org/stream/17thcenturycolonies03osgorich#page/n206/mode/2up The American colonies in the seventeenth century] (3 vol 1904–07), pp.&nbsp;207–209</ref> The 1660 act is generally considered to be the basis of the "Navigation Acts", which (with later amendments, additions and exceptions) remained in force for nearly two centuries. The navigation acts entitled colonial shipping and seamen to enjoy the full benefits of the otherwise exclusively English provisions. "English bottoms" included vessels built in English plantations, particularly in America. There were no restrictions put in the way of English colonists who might wish to build or trade in their own ships to foreign plantations or other European countries besides England, provided they did not violate the enumerated commodity clause.<ref>Craven, p. 35</ref> Some of the most important products of colonial America, including grain of all sorts and the fisheries of New England, were always non-enumerated commodities.

===Navigation Act 1660===
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title = Navigation Act 1660
| type = Act
| parliament = Parliament of England
| long_title = An Act for the Encourageing and increasing of Shipping and Navigation.
| year = 1660
| citation = [[12 Cha. 2]]. c. 18
| territorial_extent = {{ubli|[[England and Wales]]|[[English overseas possessions]]}}
| royal_assent = 13 September 1660
| commencement = {{ubli|various, 1 December 1660 to 1 September 1661}}
| repeal_date = 5 July 1825
| replaces = [[Navigation Act 1651]]
| amendments = [[Repeal of Acts Concerning Importation (No. 2) Act 1822]]
| repealing_legislation = [[Customs Law Repeal Act 1825]]
| related_legislation = {{ubli|[[Trade Act 1775]]|[[Trade (No. 2) Act 1775]]}}
| status = Repealed
| original_text = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp246-250
}}

The '''Navigation Act 1660''' {{nowrap|([[12 Cha. 2]]. c. 18)}}, long-titled ''An Act for the Encourageing and increasing of Shipping and Navigation'', was passed on 13 September by the [[Convention Parliament (1660)|Convention Parliament]] and confirmed by the [[Cavalier Parliament]] on 27 July 1661.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170306211551/http://www.motherbedford.com/HistoricalDocuments04.htm The Second Navigation Act 1660], via Archive.org</ref> The act broadened and strengthened restrictions under Cromwell's earlier act. Colonial imports and exports were now restricted to ships "as doe truly and without fraud belong onely to the people of England ... or are of the built of and belonging to" any of the [[English overseas possessions|English possessions]].<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp246-250 Navigation Act 1660, text]</ref> Additionally, ships' crews now had to be 75% English, rather than just a majority, and ship captains were required to post a [[performance bond|bond]] to ensure compliance and could recoup the funds upon arrival.<ref name="Purvis1997">{{cite book|last=Purvis|first=Thomas L.|title=A dictionary of American history|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=556-YcjJYhkC&pg=PA278|date=1997|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-57718-099-9|page=278}}</ref> The penalty for non-compliance was the forfeiture of both the ship and its cargo. The act provides that violations of the navigation act were to be tried in "any court of record," but it also authorizes and strictly requires all commanders of ships of war to seize non-English ships and deliver them to the Court of Admiralty.

The act specified seven colonial products, known as "enumerated" commodities or items, that were to be shipped from the colonies only to England or other English colonies. These items were tropical or semi-tropical produce that could not be grown in the mother country, but were of higher economic value and used in English competitive manufacturing. The initial products included sugar, tobacco, cotton wool, indigo, ginger, [[fustic]], or other dyeing woods. Previously only tobacco export had been restricted to England. Additional enumerated items would be included in subsequent navigation acts, for example the [[cocoa bean]] was added in 1672, after drinking chocolate became the fashion.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

In a significant bow to English merchants and to the detriment of numerous foreign colonists, section two of the act declared that "no alien or person not born within the allegiance of our sovereign lord the King, his heirs and successors, or naturalized or made a free denizen, shall... exercise the trade or occupation of a merchant or [[Factor (agent)|factor]] in any of the said places" (i.e. lands, islands, plantations, or territories belonging to the King in Asia, Africa, or America), upon pain of forfeiting all goods and chattels.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

{{anchor|Customs Act 1660}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Customs Act 1660
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act to prevent Fraudes and Concealments of His Majestyes Customes and Subsidyes.
| year                  = 1660
| citation              = [[12 Cha. 2]]. c. 19
| territorial_extent    = [[England and Wales]]
| royal_assent          = 13 September 1660
| commencement          = 1 September 1660{{efn|Section 1.}}
| repeal_date           = 5 July 1825
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = [[Customs Law Repeal Act 1825]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/p250
| collapsed             = yes
}}

Passage of the Navigation Act 1660 act was immediately followed by the Customs Act 1660 {{nowrap|([[12 Cha. 2]]. c. 19)}},<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/p250 Charles II, 1660: An Act to prevent Fraudes and Concealments of His Majestyes Customes and Subsidyes.]</ref> which established how the customs duties would be collected by the government, as well as for subsidies ([[tunnage]] and [[poundage]]) for royal expenses. These acts of revenue, previously established under the Commonwealth, were similarly reauthorized with the restoration. The 1660 customs act was tightened by the Customs Act 1662 {{nowrap|([[14 Cha. 2]]. c. 11)}}. It also emphatically defines "Englishmen" under the Navigation Acts: "Whereas it is required by the [Navigation Act 1660] that in sundry cases the Master and three-fourths of the Mariners are to be English, it is to be understood that any of His Majesty's Subjects of England, Ireland, and His [[Plantation (settlement or colony)|Plantations]] are to be accounted English and no others."<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp393-400 An Act for preventing Frauds and regulating Abuses in His Majesties Customes.]</ref>

{{anchor|Exportation Act 1660|Tobacco Planting and Sowing Act 1660}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Exportation Act 1660
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act for prohibiting the Exportation of Wooll, Woolfells, Fullers Earth, or any kinde of Scouring Earth.
| year                  = 1660
| citation              = [[12 Cha. 2]]. c. 32
| territorial_extent    = [[England and Wales]]
| royal_assent          = 29 December 1660
| commencement          = 14 January 1660{{efn|Section 1.}}
| repeal_date           = 21 July 1856 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = {{ubli|[[Repeal of Obsolete Statutes Act 1856]]}}
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp293-296
| collapsed             = yes
}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Tobacco Planting and Sowing Act 1660
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act for Prohibiting the Planting Setting or Sowing of Tobaccho in England and Ireland.
| year                  = 1660
| citation              = [[12 Cha. 2]]. c. 34
| territorial_extent    = [[England and Wales]]
| royal_assent          = 29 December 1660
| commencement          = 1 January 1661{{efn|Section 1.}}
| repeal_date           = 29 April 1910
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = {{ubli|[[Administration of Intestates' Estate Act 1685]]|[[Estreats (Personal Representatives) Act 1692]][[Statute Law Revision Act 1888]]}}
| repealing_legislation = [[Finance (1909-10) Act 1910]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/p297
| collapsed             = yes
}}

Other acts relating to trade were passed in the same session of Parliament and reiterated previous acts. These include the Exportation Act 1660 {{nowrap|([[12 Cha. 2]]. c. 32)}}, which bans the export of wool and wool-processing materials,<ref>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp293-296 ''An Act for prohibiting the Exportation of Wooll Woolfells Fullers Earth or any kinde of Scouring Earth''.]</ref> and the Tobacco Planting and Sowing Act 1660 {{nowrap|([[12 Cha. 2]]. c. 34)}}, which prohibits growing tobacco in England and Ireland.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/p297 ''An Act for Prohibiting the Planting Setting or Sowing of Tobaccho in England and Ireland''.]</ref> The former act was intended to encourage domestic woolen manufacturing by increasing the availability of domestic raw materials; the latter act was passed to limit competition with the colonies and protect the plantations' main crop, as well as to protect this regulated royal revenue stream. With the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] still separate, passage of the English act lead to the passage of a similar navigation act by the [[Parliament of Scotland]].<ref>Reeves 1792, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_5taAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA57  p.&nbsp;57]</ref> After the [[Act of Union 1707]], Scottish ships, merchants, and mariners enjoyed the same privileges.

===Navigation Act 1663===
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Navigation Act 1663
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act for the Encouragement of Trade
| year                  = 1663
| citation              = [[15 Cha. 2]]. c. 7
| territorial_extent    = [[England and Wales]]
| royal_assent          = 27 July 1663
| commencement          = 1 September 1663{{efn|Start of session.}}
| repeal_date           = 29 April 1910
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = [[Statute Law Revision Act 1888]]
| repealing_legislation = [[Finance (1909-10) Act 1910]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp449-452
}}

The '''Navigation Act 1663''' ([[15 Cha. 2]]. c. 7), long-titled ''An Act for the Encouragement of Trade'', also termed the Encouragement of Trade Act 1663 or the Staple Act, was passed on 27 July. This strengthening of the navigation system now required all European goods, bound for America and other colonies, had to be trans-shipped through England first.<ref name="Purvis1997"/> In England, the goods would be unloaded, inspected, approved, duties paid, and finally, reloaded for the destination. This trade had to be carried in English vessels ("bottoms") or those of its colonies. Furthermore, imports of the 'enumerated' commodities (such as tobacco and cotton) had to be landed and taxes paid before continuing to other countries. "England", as used here, includes [[Wales]] and [[Berwick-upon-Tweed]], though those places were little involved in colonial trade. The mercantile purpose of the act was to make England the [[Wiktionary:staple|staple]] for all European products bound for the colonies, and to prevent the colonies from establishing an independent import trade.<ref>Andrews, [https://archive.org/stream/colonialselfgov00andrgoog#page/n36 p.&nbsp;19]</ref> This mandated change increased shipping times and costs, which in turn, increased the prices paid by the colonists. Due to these increases, some exemptions were allowed; these included salt intended for the New England and Newfoundland fisheries, wine from Madeira and the Azores, and provisions, servants and horses from Scotland and Ireland.

The most important new legislation embedded in this Act, as seen from the perspective of the interests behind the East India Company,{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} was the repeal of legislation which prohibited export of coin and bullion from England overseas.<ref>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp449-452 Charles II, 1663: An Act for the Encouragement of Trade]</ref> This export was the real issue behind the act,{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} as silver was the main export article by the East India Company into India, exchanging the silver into cheap Indian gold. This change had major implications for the East India Company, for England and for India. The majority of silver in England was exported to India, creating enormous profits for the individual participants, but depriving the Crown of England of necessary silver and taxation. Much of the silver exported was procured by English piracy directed against Spanish and Portuguese merchant ships bringing silver from their colonies in the Americas to Europe. It was later revealed that the act passed Parliament due to enormous bribes paid by the East Indian Company to various influential members of Parliament.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/AlexanderDelMar|title = Alexander del Mar (1836–1926)}}</ref>

{{anchor|Tobacco Planting and Plantation Trade Act 1670}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Tobacco Planting and Plantation Trade Act 1670
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act to prevent the planting of Tobacco in England, and for regulateing the Plantation Trade
| year                  = 1670
| citation              = [[22 & 23 Cha. 2]]. c. 26
| territorial_extent    = [[England and Wales]]
| royal_assent          = 22 April 1671
| commencement          = 1 May 1671{{efn|Section 1.}}
| repeal_date           = 23 May 1950
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = [[Customs Law Repeal Act 1825]]
| repealing_legislation = [[Statute Law Revision Act 1950]]
| related_legislation   = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000017915564&view=1up&seq=783
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = 23 May 1950
}}

An act tightening colonial trade legislation, and sometimes referred to as the '''Navigation Act 1670''', is the Tobacco Planting and Plantation Trade Act 1670 ([[22 & 23 Cha. 2]]. c. 26).<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp747-74 ''An Act to prevent the planting of Tobacco in England, and for regulateing the Plantation Trade''.]</ref> This act imposes forfeiture penalties of the ship and cargo if enumerated commodities are shipped without a bond or customs certificate, or if shipped to countries other than England, or if ships unload sugar or enumerated products in any port except in England. The act requires the governors of American plantations to report annually to customs in London a list of all ships loading any commodities there, as well as a list of all bonds taken. The act states that prosecutions for a breach of the navigation acts should be tried in the court of the high admiral of England, in any of the vice-admiralty courts, or in any court of record in England, but while the act again hints at the jurisdiction of the admiralty courts, it does not explicitly provide for them. In a move against Ireland, the act additionally repealed the ability of Ireland (in the 1660 act) to obtain the necessary bond for products shipped to overseas colonies.{{sfnp|Beer|1893|p=[https://archive.org/stream/commercialpolicy00beerrich#page/426/mode/2up p.&nbsp;129]}}{{sfnp|Osgood|1907|p=[https://archive.org/stream/17thcenturycolonies03osgorich#page/208/mode/2up p.&nbsp;208ff]}}

The specifically anti-Dutch aspects of the early acts were in full force for a relatively short time. During the [[Second Anglo-Dutch War]] the English had to abandon the Baltic trade and allowed foreign ships to enter the coasting and plantation trade.{{sfnp|Reeves|1792|p=[{{GBurl|_5taAAAAcAAJ|page=276}} p.&nbsp;276]}} Following the war, which ended disastrously for England, the Dutch obtained the right to ship commodities produced in their German [[hinterland]] to England as if these were Dutch goods. Even more importantly, as England accepted the concept of [[neutral country|neutrality]], it conceded the principle of "free ships make free goods" which provided freedom from molestation by the [[Royal Navy]] of Dutch shipping on the high seas during wars in which the Dutch Republic was neutral. This more or less gave the Dutch freedom to conduct their "smuggling" unhindered as long as they were not caught red-handed in territorial waters controlled by England. These provisions were reconfirmed in the [[Treaty of Westminster (1674)]] after the [[Third Anglo-Dutch War]].{{sfnp|Israel|1997|pp=316–317}}

===Navigation Act 1673===
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Navigation Act 1673
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act for the {{Not a typo|incouragement}} of the Greeneland and Eastland Trades, and for the better {{Not a typo|secureing}} the Plantation Trade.
| year                  = 1673
| citation              = [[25 Cha. 2]]. c. 7
| territorial_extent    = [[England and Wales]]
| royal_assent          = 29 March 1673 
| commencement          = 4 February 1673{{efn|Start of session.}}
| expiry_date           =
| repeal_date           = 28 July 1863
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = [[Statute Law Revision Act 1863]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp792-793
}}

The so-called '''Navigation Act 1673''' ([[25 Cha. 2]]. c. 7), long-titled ''An Act for the {{Not a typo|incouragement}} of the Greeneland and Eastland Trades, and for the better {{Not a typo|secureing}} the Plantation Trade'' became enforceable at various dates in that year; the act is [[short title]]d the Trade Act 1672. The act was intended to increase English capability and production in the northern [[whaling|whale fishery]] (more accurately in [[Spitsbergen]]), as well as in the eastern Baltic and North Sea trade, where the Dutch and [[Hanseatic League|Hansa]] dominated commerce and trade.  The act also closed a significant loophole in the enumerated goods trade as a result of the active inter-colonial trade.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

To promote whaling and production of its [[Whale oil|oil]] and [[whalebone]] etc., the act relaxed the 1660 act's restrictions on foreigners, allowing up to half the crew, if on English ships, and dropped all duties on these products for the next ten years. It also allowed foreign residents and foreigners to participate in this trade if imported to England in English ships. Colonial ships and crews engaged in this trade had to pay a low duty, with foreign ships paying a high duty. To promote the eastern trade then monopolized by the chartered and poorly performing [[Eastland Company]], the act opened their trade with Sweden, Denmark, and Norway to foreigners and English alike. It also allowed any Englishman to be admitted into the Eastland Company on paying a minor fee. The act was a mortal blow to Eastland's [[royal charter]].<ref>Anderson 1787, [https://books.google.com/books?id=chpPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA521 pp.&nbsp;521–522]</ref>

To better secure their own plantation trade from considerable illegal indirect trade in enumerated products to Europe, by way of legal inter-colonial trade, the act instituted that customs duties and charges should be paid on departure from the colonies, if traveling without first obtaining the bond required to carry the goods to England. The purpose of the act was to stop the carrying of plantation goods to another plantation with their subsequent shipment to a foreign country on the grounds that the 1660 act's requirements had been fulfilled. This change was a considerable advance toward the systematic execution of the previous acts, and increased much needed royal revenue<ref name="ComPolE"/> given the recent [[Stop of the Exchequer]].  To better collect the customs revenue the act established that these were now to be levied and collected by the Commissioners of Customs in England. Also, if a ship arrived with insufficient funds to pay the duties, customs official could accept an equivalent proportion of the goods as payment instead.


===Navigation Act 1696===
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Plantation Trade Act 1695
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of England
| long_title            = An Act for preventing Frauds and regulating Abuses in the Plantation Trade
| year                  = 1696
| citation              = [[7 & 8 Will. 3]]. c. 22
| territorial_extent    = [[England and Wales]]
| royal_assent          = 10 April 1696
| commencement          = 25 March 1698{{efn|Section 1.}}
| expiry_date           =
| repeal_date           = 15 July 1867
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = [[Customs Law Repeal Act 1825]] 
| repealing_legislation = [[Statute Law Revision Act 1867]]
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = Repealed
| original_text         = https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol7/pp103-107
}}

The so-called '''Navigation Act 1696''' ([[7 & 8 Will. 3]]. c. 22), long-titled ''An Act for preventing Frauds and regulating Abuses in the Plantation Trade'', became effective over in the next few years, due to its far reaching provisions; the act is short-titled the Plantation Trade Act 1695. It contains new restrictions on colonial trade, and several different administrative provisions to strengthen enforcement and consolidate the earlier acts.<ref>.Reeves 1792, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_5taAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA81 pp.&nbsp;81–91]</ref>

In tightening the wording of the 1660 act, and after noting the daily "great abuses [being] committed ... by the artifice and cunning of ill disposed persons", this act now required that no goods or merchandise could be imported, exported, or carried between English possessions in Africa, Asia and America, or shipped to England, Wales, or Berwick upon Tweed, except in "what is or shall bee of the Built of England or of the Built of Ireland or the said Colonies or Plantations and wholly owned by the People thereof ... and navigated with the Masters and Three-Fourths of the Mariners of the said Places onely". To enforce this change, the act required the registration of all ships and owners, including an oath that they have no foreign owners, before the ship would be considered English-built. Exceptions were introduced for foreign-built ships taken as [[prize (law)|prize]], or those employed by the navy for importing [[Naval stores#Colonial North America|naval stores]] from the plantations. The deadline for the registration of ships was extended by the Registering of Ships Act 1697 (9 Will 3 c. 42)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pFYMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA385 ''An Act for enlarging the Time for Registering of Ships pursuant to the act for preventing Frauds and regulating Abuses in the Plantation Trade.''] A collection of the public general statutes passed in the ... year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, p.&nbsp;385 (1867)</ref> In a significant tightening of the navigation enforcement system, section 6 of the act establishes that violations are to be tried ''in any of His Majesties Courts att Westminster or [in the Kingdome of Ireland or in the Court of Admiralty held in His Majesties Plantations respectively where such Offence shall bee committed att the Pleasure of the Officer or Informer or in any other Plantation belonging to any Subject of England]''...<ref>Brackets annexed to the original act in a separate schedule.</ref> Revenue generated was to be split in thirds between the King, the Governor, and the one who informed and sued.

Previously, most of the customs collection and enforcement in the colonies was performed by the governor or his appointees, commonly known as the "naval officer," but evasion, corruption and indifference were common. The 1696 act now required all current governors and officers to take an oath that all and every clause contained in the act be "punctually and bona fide observed according to the true intent and meaning". Governors nominated in the future were required to take this oath before assuming office. To tighten compliance among colonial customs officials, the act required that all current and future officers give a security bond to the Commissioners of the Customs in England to undertake the "true and faithfull performance of their duty". Additionally, the act gave colonial customs officers the same power and authority as of customs officers in England; these included the ability to board and search ships and warehouses, load and unload cargoes, and seize those imported or exported goods prohibited or those for which duties should have been paid under the acts. Commissioners of the treasury and of the customs in England would now appoint the colonial customs officials. Due to colonial "doubts or misconstructions" concerning the bond required under the 1660 act, the 1696 act now mandated that no enumerated goods could be loaded or shipped until the required bond was obtained.<ref>Hugh Edward Egerton, A short history of British colonial policy (1897), [https://archive.org/stream/ashorthistorybr01egergoog#page/n134/mode/2up p.&nbsp;114]</ref> The act was followed by a special instruction about the oaths and [[Proprietary colony|proprietary governors]] who weren't directly under royal control to post a bond to comply; this was considered by the Board of Trade and issued on 26 May 1697.<ref>Reeves 1792, p.&nbsp;90</ref>

Since the colonies previously had passed much of their own legislation and appointments, the act included several sections to tighten English control over the colonies generally. The act mandated that all colonial positions of trust in the courts or related to the treasury must be native born subjects of England, Ireland or the colonies. It also enacted that all laws, bylaws, usages or customs in current or future use in the plantations, which are found to be repugnant to the navigation acts in any way, are to be declared illegal, null and void. The act additionally declared that all persons or their heirs claiming any right or property "in any Islands or Tracts of Land upon the Continent of America by Charter or Letters Patent shall not in the future alienate, sell or dispose of any of the Islands, Tracts of Land, or Proprieties other than to the Natural Born Subjects of England, Ireland, Dominion of Wales or Town of Berwick upon Tweed without the License and Consent of His Majesty". Colonial-born subjects were not mentioned.  Such a sale must be signified by a prior Order in Council.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

With this act the government did start to institute admiralty courts and staff them in more and new places; this established "a more general obedience to the acts of Trade and Navigation." [[John Reeves (activist)|John Reeves]], who wrote the handbook for the Board of Trade,<ref>Dudley Odell McGovney, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1834096  The Navigation Acts as Applied to European Trade], The American Historical Review Vol. 9, No. 4 (Jul., 1904), pp.&nbsp;725–734</ref> considered the 1696 act to be the last major navigation act, with relatively minor subsequent acts. The system established by this act, and upon previous acts, was where the Navigation Acts still stood in 1792,<ref>Reeves 1792, pp.&nbsp;89–91</ref> though there would be major policy changes followed by their reversals in the intervening years.