The 1696 Act turns regulation into enforcement

The 1696 Act required ships and owners to register and swear that vessels had no foreign ownership before receiving English-built status. Exceptions covered foreign-built prizes and vessels employed by the Royal Navy to import naval stores. The original twelve-month registration deadline was extended by the registering legislation of 1697. Enforcement proceeds were divided equally among the Crown, the governor, and the informer or person bringing the case, giving each a financial interest in violations. Colonial customs officers gained powers to board ships, search warehouses, order cargo unloaded and reloaded, and seize goods traded in breach of the rules. Governors lost the right to appoint those officers because appointments passed to the Treasury and English customs authorities. Centrally appointed officers consequently brought substantial commercial and coercive authority into colonial ports. The Admiralty Court arrangements formed part of a framework that remained largely in place until the Molasses Act thirty-seven years later.