Wireless Telegraphy - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition wireless-telegraphy

Definition :

Wireless telegraphy, defined in the Wireless Telegraphy Acts, 1904 (4 Edw. 7, c. 24), s. 7, and 1925 (15 & 16 Geo.5, c. 67), s. 1, as meaning 'any system of communication by telegraph as defined in the Telegraph Acts, 1863 to 1904, without the aid of any wire connecting the points from and at which the messages or other communications are sent and received,' it being also provided that nothing in the Act shall prevent any person from making or using electrical apparatus for actuating machinery or for any purpose other than the transmission, including the reception as well as the sending, of messages. The Act of 1924 prohibits the establishment of any wireless telegraph station, or the establishment or working of any apparatus for wireless telegraphy, in any place or onboard any British ship, except under and in accordance with a licence granted in that behalf by the Postmaster-General. Search-warrants may be issued by order of the Postmaster-General, the Admiralty, Army Council, Air Council, or Board of Trade. The Act extends to the whole of the British Islands, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and to all British ships on the High Seas; with certain regulations [s. 3 (4)], to foreign ships in territorial waters, and see Wireless Telegraphy Order, 1908 [S.R. & O. 1908 (No. 208), s. 3 of 1904] As to foreignships registered in the United Kingdom in port there, see (English) Merchant Shipping (Wireless Telegraphy) Act, 1919, s. 2 (9 & 10 Geo. 5, c. 38). That Act, as amended by the (English) Merchant Shipping (Safety and Lord Line Conventions)Act, 1932 (22 Geo. 5, c. 9) (giving effect to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea of 1929, set out in the 1st Sch.), provides that the wireless telegraphy rules of the Board of Trade are to give effect to the Convention if not provided for by the (English) Merchant Shipping Acts, and that steamers carrying more than twelve passengers, and ships of 1,600 tons gross tonnage and upwards, must provide wireless installation and services. The Board of Trade may exempt ships from the obligations of either Act under certain circumstances.

Passenger ships of more than 5,000 tons gross tonnage are to be provided with a wireless direction-finding apparatus (1932 Act, s. 6).

The (English) Act of 1904 was originally limited to expire on July 31st, 1906, but is continued annually by an Expiring Laws Continuance Act, and see BROADCASTING.