[C]
The first navigation law was enacted in the year 1381, fifth of Richard
II. This act, introduced "to awaken industry and increase the wealth of
the inhabitants and extend their influence,"[D] ordained that "none of
the King's liege people should from henceforth ship any merchandise in
going out or coming within the realm of England but only in the ships of
the King's liegeance, on penalty of forfeiture of vessel and cargo."[E]
This act of Richard II was the forerunner of the code of Cromwell, which
came to be called the "Great Maritime Charter of England," and the
fundamental principles of which held up to the second quarter of the
nineteenth century.
Under Charles I was enacted (1646) the first restrictive act with
relation to the commerce of the colonies, which ordained "That none in
any of the ports of the plantations of Virginia, Bermuda, Barbados, and
other places of America, shall suffer any ship or vessel to lade any
goods of the growth of the plantations and carry them to foreign ports
except in English bottoms," under forfeiture of certain exemptions from
customs.[F] It was followed up four years later (1650) under the
Commonwealth, by an act prohibiting "all foreign vessels whatever from
lading with the plantations of America without having obtained a
license.
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