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

There was a perpetual smuggling invasion of the Spanish settlements in America on the part of the British, and a rigorous defence by right of search on the part of the Spaniards.

From Lord Chatham His Early Life and Connections by Rosebery, Archibald Phillip Primrose

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

When the negotiations between Spain and Great Britain were resumed, Spain absolutely refused to abandon the right of search.

From Lord Chatham His Early Life and Connections by Rosebery, Archibald Phillip Primrose