right of search

American  

noun

International Law.

1. the privilege of a nation at war to search neutral ships on the high seas for contraband or other matter, carried in violation of neutrality, that may subject the ship to seizure.

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right of search British  

noun

1. the right of a belligerent to stop and search neutral merchant ships on the high seas in wartime

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Etymology

Origin of right of search

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

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From Slate • Feb. 15, 2019

A treaty is being negotiated with Great Britain with respect to the right of search of hovering vessels.

From Time Magazine Archive

This demand was at first so worded as to imply that submarines, like other warships, had only the right of search.

From My Three Years in America by Bernstorff, Johann Heinrich Andreas Hermann Albrecht Graf von

He saw Twyndle's eye wander wildly, and caught him yawning stealthily into his hand, while he was giving him his view of the affair of the "the Matilda Briggs," and the right of search.

From The Tenants of Malory Volume 2 of 3 by Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan

The freedom of the seas, the toll of the tropics, the right of search, and all that sort of buccaneering pastime, is liable, you know, to the usual risks.”

From Captain Brand of the "Centipede" A Pirate of Eminence in the West Indies: His Love and Exploits, Together with Some Account of the Singular Manner by Which He Departed This Life by Wise, H. A. (Henry Augustus)