The Legal Definition of a Pirate:
"Piracy, in international law, is the crime of
robbery, or other act of violence for private ends,
on the high seas or in the air above the seas,
committed by the captain or crew of a ship or
aircraft outside the normal jurisdiction of any
nation, and without authority from any government.
The persons who engage in acts of piracy are called
"pirates". International treaties and national
legislation have sometimes applied the term "piracy"
to attacks on the high seas authorized by a
government, in violation of international law; to
actions by insurgents acting for political purposes;
or to violent acts on board a vessel under control
of its officers."
Such acts, however, are not regarded as piracy under the law of nations.
Piracy is distinguished from "privateering" in that the latter is authorized
by a belligerent in time of war; privateering was legally abolished by the
Declaration of Paris of 1856, but the United States and certain other
nations did not assent to the declaration.
Piracy is recognized as an offense against the law of nations. It is a crime
not against any particular state, but against all humanity. The crime may be
punished in the competent tribunal of any country in which the offender may
be found, or carried, although the crime may have been committed on board a
foreign vessel on the high seas. The essence of piracy is that the pirate
has no valid commission from a sovereign state, or from an insurgent or
belligerent government engaged in hostilities with a particular state.
Pirates are regarded as common enemies of all people. In that nations have
an equal interest in their apprehension and punishment, pirates may be
lawfully captured on the high seas by the armed vessels of any state and
brought within its territorial jurisdiction for trial in its tribunals.
Piracy is of ancient origin. The Phoenicians often combined piracy with more
legitimate seafaring enterprise. From the 9th through the 11th century the
Vikings terrorized western European coasts and waters. The Hanseatic League,
formed in the 13th century, was created partially to provide mutual defense
against northern pirates roaming the North and Baltic seas. Muslim rovers,
meanwhile, scourged the Mediterranean Sea, commingling naval war on a large
scale with thievery and the abduction of slaves. In the 17th century the
English Channel swarmed with Algerian pirates, operating out of northern
Africa; Algiers continued to be a piratical stronghold until well into the
19th century. Piracy waned with the development of the steam engine and the
growth of the British and American navies in the latter part of the 18th and
early 19th centuries.
In municipal law, the term piracy has been extended to cover crimes other
than those defined above, such as slave trading. An independent state has
the power to regulate its own criminal code, and it may declare offenses to
be piracy that are not so regarded by international law. These municipal
laws can have binding force only in the jurisdiction creating them. Although
similar regulations may be adopted by other states, in the absence of
special agreement between two states, the officers of one may not arrest or
punish subjects of the other for offenses committed beyond its jurisdiction.
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