Navigation Acts - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition navigation-acts

Definition :

Navigation acts, restricting the import or export of goods except in British bottoms, i.e., in ships the owners of which and the large proportion of the crews of which were British, were various enactments passed for the protection of British shipping and commerce as against foreign countries. The first 'Navigation Act' was passed during the Commonwealth, in 1651, to restrain the competition of the Dutch marine, and its restrictions were repeated in 1660 by 12 Car. 2, c. 18, sometimes styled the 'Charta Maritima,' but earlier Acts of the same nature (see, e.g., 5 Rich. 2, stat. 1, c. 3) had been passed in the reigns of Richard the Second, Henry the Seventh, and Elizabeth. All the Navigation Acts were repealed in 1849. See Pulling's Shipping Code.