Trading with the Enemy Act 1939

The Trading with the Enemy Act 1939 (2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 89) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which makes it a criminal offence to conduct trade with the enemy in wartime, with a penalty of up to seven years' imprisonment. The bill passed rapidly through Parliament in just two days, from 3 to 5 September 1939, and the Act was passed on 5 September 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War. It is still in force.

Trading with the Enemy Act 1939^[1]

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to impose penalties for trading with the enemy, to make provision as respects the property of enemies and enemy subjects, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
Citation	2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 89
Dates
Royal assent	5 September 1939
Other legislation
Repeals/revokes	Trading with the Enemy Act 1914
Amended by	Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Trading with the Enemy Act 1939 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The act's provisions about the custody of enemy property were inspiration for the Israeli Absentee Property Regulations and other laws passed in 1948 about the use of the Palestinians' properties by the state of Israel.^[2] However, the 1939 act said that enemy property was only being confiscated "[w]ith a view to preventing the payment of money to enemies and of preserving enemy property in contemplation of arrangements to be made at the conclusion of peace..."^[3]

See also

• Trading with the Enemy Act
• Trading with the Enemy Act 1914
• Daimler Co Ltd v Continental Tyre and Rubber Co (Great Britain) Ltd