The meaning of "having for"

[Marianm]

There is an interesting court case going on that mainly hinges on the meaning of this sentence: "Any organized Yacht Club of a foreign country, incorporated, patented, or licensed by the legislature, admiralty, or other executive department, having for its annual regatta on ocean water course on the sea, or on an arm of the sea, or one which combines both, shall always be entitled to the right of sailing a match for this Cup, with a yacht or vessel propelled by sails only and constructed in the country to which the Challenging Club belongs, against any one yacht or vessel constructed in the country of the Club holding the Cup."
The key phrase is "having for its annual regatta on ocean water course on the sea, or on an arm of the sea".
On your opinion, does this mean that the Yacht Club must "have an annual regatta on [an] ocean water course ...", or does it mean that the Yacht Club must "have an ocean water course on which to hold its annual regatta"?

[Skrej]

Hi Marianm,

Welcome to English-test.net.

Like any legalese, this is kind of hard to interpret, but my understanding of what you're asking about means this:

Any Yacht Club which has an annual regatta on ocean water, an arm of the sea, or a combination of both has the right of sailing in a match for this Cup.

In other words, to be eligible to enter into competition for this Cup, a Yacht Club must hold an annual regatta on an open ocean course, or on an arm (such as a bay) of the sea, or a course that's a combination of open ocean and an arm of a sea.
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