orders in council

views updated Jun 11 2018

orders in council. In November 1806 Napoleon's Berlin Decree attempted to exclude British trade from the continent. The British government replied with the orders in council, using the emergency powers of the sovereign, approved by the Privy Council. The orders of November and December 1807 declared a blockade of any harbour that excluded British commerce and insisted that neutral vessels must visit British harbours and pay transit fees. The USA protested strongly and its resentment was one of the causes of the War of 1812.

J. A. Cannon