Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order divides United Kingdom territorial waters and waters within areas designated as part of the United Kingdom continental shelf under the Continental Shelf Act 1964 into English, Scottish and Northern Irish parts to which English, Scottish and Northern Irish civil law is applied respectively, and confers jurisdiction accordingly on the High Court in England and Wales, the Court of Session and the High Court in Northern Ireland. The Order also provides for installations in an English, Scottish or Northern Irish part to be treated, for the purposes of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 and the Radioactive Substances Act 1960, as being in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland as the case may be. The Order replaces and re-enacts the substance of similar provisions of earlier Jurisdiction Orders made under section 3 of the Continental Shelf Act 1964, which, however, applied only in designated areas.
The Continental Shelf (Designation of Areas) Orders 1964 to 1987 have been made under the 1964 Act (S.I. 1964/697, 1965/1531, 1968/891, 1971/594, 1974/1489, 1976/1153, 1977/1871, 1978/178, 1029, 1979/1447, 1982/1072, 1987/1265).