Recruiting Act 1703

Recruiting Act 1703

Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for raising Recruits for the Land Forces and Marines and for dispensing with Part of the Act for the Incouragement and Increase of Shipping and Navigation during the present Warr.
Citation	2 & 3 Ann. c. 13 [a] 2 & 3 Ann. c. 19 [b]
Territorial extent	England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent	3 April 1704
Commencement	9 November 1703 [c]
Repealed	15 July 1867
Other legislation
Amends	Navigation Act 1660r
Repealed by	Statute Law Revision Act 1867
Relates to	Maintenance of the Navy Act 1562 Vagabonds (No. 2) Act 1597
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Recruiting Act 1703 (2 & 3 Ann. c. 13) ^[a] was an act of the Parliament of England, after the start of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe, with Queen Anne's War in America. It was long titled An Act for raising Recruits for the Land Forces, and Marines, and for dispensing with Part of the Act for the Encouragement and Increase of Shipping and Navigation, during the present War. With the pressures of war, the act provided for the forcible enlistment of able bodied men into the army and navy who did not have visible means of subsistence. ^[1] It also established administration and regulations under the act within local jurisdictions and became effective for one year from 1 March 1703.

Section eight of the act relaxed the normal crewing requirements for merchant ships under the Navigation Acts, which mandates that three quarters of the crew be English subjects. This act allowed up to half the crew to be foreigners during the war. It was intended to make experienced English seamen more available to serve on ships of war.^{[ citation needed ]}

Subsequent developments

The whole act was repealed by section 1 of, and the first schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 62).

Notes

1. This is the citation in The Statutes of the Realm .
2. This is the citation in The Statutes at Large .
3. Start of session.

References

1. Leadam, I.S. (1909). Hunt, William; Poole, Reginald L. (eds.). The History of England from the Accession of Anne to the Death of George II. The Political History of England. Vol. IX. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. p. 140.

•  This article incorporates text from The History of England from the Accession of Anne to the Death of George II, a publication from 1909, now in the public domain in the United States.

External links

• Recruiting Act 1703, text
• Tomlins, Thomas Edlyne; Raithby, John (1811). Royal Majesty Queen's Navy Act 1562 [5 Eliz. I. - A.D. 1562 Chapter V]. The Statutes at Large, of England and of Great Britain: from Magna Carta to the Union of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. IV. London, Great Britain: George Eyre and Andrew Strahan. pp. 207–217. OCLC   15609908 – via Internet Archive.
• Tomlins, Thomas Edlyne; Raithby, John (1811). Vagrancy Act 1597 [39 Eliz. I. - A.D. 1597 Chapter XVII]. The Statutes at Large, of England and of Great Britain: from Magna Carta to the Union of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. IV. London, Great Britain: George Eyre and Andrew Strahan. pp. 532–534. OCLC   15609908 – via Internet Archive.