The Act came into need because of the early events of the
Second World War, in which the remnants of the European anti-Nazi forces fled to Britain after their defeat. Finding their armed forces in Britain, sometimes with a large number of
merchant navy ships, they had no effective machinery of justice. The
Visiting Forces (British Commonwealth) Act 1933 and
Allied Forces Act 1940 provided some martial courts, but nothing for maritime law. Section 1 of the Act allowed for new maritime courts to exercise jurisdiction over offences committed by any non-British person on a merchant vessel owned by the nation or power which constituted the court. Section 2 allowed for the courts to hear cases against their own citizens involving mercantile conscription laws. Macmillan notes the similarity of purpose with a Dutch law of 1541, passed by
Maximilian of Burgundy, which allowed Scots merchants at
Veere in
Zeeland to be governed by Scots law. ==References==