The Act stated that
Both measures hindered the Dutch, who had, due to low tariffs, better ships, and a near monopoly on the Baltic trade, been the foremost sea merchant nation for many years and had grown very dependent on their sea trade. Dutch unhappiness with the Act lead to the First Anglo-Dutch War, which was fought from 1652 to 1654.
It is noteworthy that only shortly before the Navigation Act was passed Dutch lawyer Hugo de Groot (1583-1645) had devised a draft for a written international sea law, in which he advocated unrestricted sea trade. His views fitted very well in with Dutch interests. Nothing was to come of it in those days. However, the modern concept of territorial waters[?], limiting a countries jurisdiction to a narrow strip of sea close to land, is derived from his ideas.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump