within Two Leagues of the Shore of this Kingdom, without be-
ing compelled thereto by Necessity or Distress of Weather; which
Laws have been found very beneficial to the publick Revenue: And where-
as, if some Provision of that Sort was extended to His Majesty’s American
Dominions, it may be a Means of preventing an illicit Trade therewith,
and tend to enforce an Act made in the Twelfth Year of the Reign of
King Charles the Second, intituled, An Act for the encouraging and in-
creasing of Shipping and Navigation, and another Act made in the
Seventh and Eighth Year of the Reign of King William the Third, inti-
tuled, An Act for preventing Frauds, and regulating Abuses in the Plan-
tation Trade, so far as those Laws do prohibit any Goods or Commodities
to be imported into or exported out of any British Colony or Plantation
in America, in any Foreign Ship or Vessel; to which End therefore, be
it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after the Twenty
ninth Day of September, One thousand seven hundred and sixty four, if
any foreign Ship or Vessel whatsoever shall be found at Anchor, or hover-
ing within Two Leagues of the Shore of any Land, Island, Plantation,
Colony, Territory, or Place, which shall or may be in the Possession or
under the Dominion of His Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, in Ame-
rica, and shall not depart from the Coast, and proceed upon her Voyage
to some Foreign Port or Place, within Forty eight Hours after the Master
or other Person taking the Charge of such Ship or Vessel shall be required
so to do by any Officer of His Majesty’s Customs, unless in Case of una-
voidable Necessity and Distress of Weather, such Ship or Vessel, with
all the Goods therein laden, shall be forfeited and lost, whether Bulk shall
have been broken or not; and shall and may be seized and prosecuted by
any Officer of His Majesty’s Customs, in such Manner and Form as here-
in after is expressed.

Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be
construed to extend, to any Ship or Vessel belonging to the Subjects of
the French King, which shall be found fishing, and not carrying on any
illicit Trade, on that Part of the Island of Newfoundland, which stretches
from the Place called Cape Bonavista to the Northern Point of the said
Island, and from thence running down to the Western Side, reaches as
far as the Place called Point Riche.

And, in order to prevent an illicit Trade or Commerce between his
Majesty’s Subjects in America, and the Subjects of the Crown of France
in the Islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, it is hereby further enacted
by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after the Twenty-ninth Day
of September, One thousand seven hundred and sixty four, if any British
Ship or Vessel shall be found standing into, or coming out from, either
of those Islands, or hovering or at Anchor within Two Leagues of the
Coasts thereof, or shall be discovered to have taken any Goods or Mer-
chandizes on Board at either of them, or to have been there for the Pur-
pose; such Ship or Vessel, and all the Goods so taken on Board there,
shall be forfeited and lost, and shall and may be seized and prosecuted by
any Officer of His Majesty’s Customs; and the Master or other Person
having the Charge of such Ship or Vessel, and every Person concerned in
taking any such Goods on Board, shall forfeit Treble the Value thereof.

And, to prevent the concealing any Goods in false Packages, or pri-
vate Places, on Board any Ship or Vessel arriving at any of the British
Colonies or Plantations in America, with Intent to their being clandestine-
ly landed there, be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That
from and after the Twenty ninth Day of September, One thousand seven