Foreign Enlistment Act 1870

There was no common law prohibition on enlistment in foreign militaries, and mercenary services predated the development of professional armies. The '''''' (59 Geo. 3. c. 69) (long title "An Act to Prevent the Enlisting or Engagement of His Majesty’s Subjects to Serve in Foreign Service, and the Fitting out or Equipping, in his Majesty's Dominions, Vessels for Warlike Purposes Without His Majesty's Licence") was passed by on 3 July 1819. On 9 August 1870, in response to the Franco-Prussian War, Parliament repealed the 1819 act and passed the 1870 act, a redrafting of the prior legislation. Stephen presents late 19th century establishment views. Lorimer publishes the law of 1870 as it was originally enacted. ==Prosecutions and non-prosecutions under the 1819 and 1870 acts==

Authorities in Britain generally did not enforce the act, and it was often ignored, both in Britain and in British North America (to which the act applied), except in rare situations in which the foreign military activity threatened British neutrality in armed conflicts. Problems with evidence prevented the British government from convicting enlistees to the French Foreign Legion or those thousands who joined the fight against Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. In 1975 the National Liberation Front of Angola advertised for recruits in the British press, prompting the Wilson ministry to get the Privy Council to appoint a committee (Lord Diplock, Derek Walker-Smith and Geoffrey De Freitas) to "Inquire into the Recruitment of Mercenaries". Its terms of reference included "possible amendment of the Foreign Enlistment Act", which the August 1976 "Diplock Report" described as "antiquated". In 2017, a British man who had joined the Russian separatist forces in Ukraine was convicted under terrorism laws, receiving a jail sentence of five years and four months. Interviewed after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she would "absolutely" support Britons volunteering to fight for Ukraine, however soon after the Minister of Defence Ben Wallace effectively contradicted that view. This suggestion caused mixed reactions. Former Attorney General for England and Wales Dominic Grieve, a former member of Truss's Conservative Party, said that Britons who fought in Ukraine would be violating the 1870 act. By contrast, Sir Bob Neill, the chair of the House of Commons' Justice Select Committee, called the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 an "antiquated piece of legislation" that should not be enforced. ==Outside the United Kingdom==

The Westminster Act initially applied throughout the British Empire. After the Statute of Westminster 1931 it was gradually repealed or replaced by independent Commonwealth members. In the Republic of Ireland it was repealed as "inoperative" by the Statute Law Revision Act 1983. Canada The Province of Canada passed a clarifying statute in 1865, but it only applied to the Foreign Enlistment Act 1819 and lacked any force after the 1870 statute was enacted. Up to 40,000 Canadians enlisted in the U.S. military during the Vietnam Era. Although Canada was officially neutral in the conflict, no Canadian Vietnam War veteran was prosecuted for violation of the Canadian Foreign Enlistment Act of 1937. The Canadian Foreign Enlistment Act of 1937 remains a valid statute. ==See also==