The Constitution deals with piracy in Article 1, Section 8. It gives Congress “the power. Define and punish practices and crimes committed on the high seas and violations of international law. In general, the definition of pirates referred to rogue operators at sea – independent criminals who hijacked ships, stole their cargo, or committed acts of violence against their crews. But standards in all areas of law changed in response to court decisions and historical events, forming the basis of contemporary law in the mid-1800s. In addition to the traditional definition, piracy also refers to copyright infringement. This form of piracy, both in the United States and abroad, includes the unauthorized storage, duplication, distribution, or sale of intellectual property rights – for example, music CDs, film videotapes, and even fashion designs. In particular, the term has been applied to hacking computer software, which is very susceptible to theft due to its easy duplication. Estimates of the cost to copyright holders run into billions of dollars per year. U.S. law protects copyright owners under the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C.R.
§ 109 [1993]), and a federal law of 1992 criminalizes software piracy (Pub. L. No. 102-561, 106 Stat. 4233, consolidated in 18 U.S.C.A. § 2319 [1988 & 1992 Supp.]). Since the 1990s, a number of international treaties and conventions, as well as diplomatic initiatives, have sought to forge greater cooperation among nations to combat piracy. The flag State (owner) normally has jurisdiction and responsibility over a ship on the high seas. [10] Since pirates are the enemy of all humanity, there is universal jurisdiction over piracy on the high seas.
Pirates are deprived of flag State protection and all States (countries) have the right to seize a pirate ship on the high seas and prosecute it in national courts. [8] 1) Crimes such as theft, kidnapping or similar violent and destructive activities on the high seas. The trial and punishment of such pirates may be carried out in accordance with international law or the laws of the respective nation in which the pirate was captured. Article 101 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) defines piracy as “any act of unlawful violence, arrest or pillage committed by the crew of passengers of a private ship or aircraft for private purposes. on the high seas against another ship or aircraft. [and] any act of voluntary participation [in a pirate ship]”. The United States adopts Article 101 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which criminalizes piracy in 18 U.S.C. § 1651, which states: “Any person who commits the crime of piracy under international law on the high seas and is subsequently brought or found in the United States shall be imprisoned for life.” A case study is an 1820 Supreme Court decision that U.S.
v. Furlong upheld the conviction of an Irishman for piracy for the murder of an English subject aboard an American ship. United States Said (2015): A small skiff in the Gulf of Aden fired on the U.S. Navy ship, the U.S.S. Ashland, after being mistaken for a merchant ship. It turned out to be a big mistake when the navy ship retaliated, killing one of the attackers and taking the rest of the skiff`s crew, all Somali nationals, into custody. They were prosecuted for “piracy under international law” under federal law. The allegation of piracy was initially challenged because the Somalis had not stolen the ship or its crew, which was the accepted definition of piracy at the time the law was drafted. The Fourth District Court of Appeals dismissed the challenge and upheld the convictions. The definition from the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is cited: A number of offences fall under the federal definition of piracy. What makes it piracy and not the crime of theft or murder is the fact that the crime took place on the high seas.
That is, the crime was committed outside territorial waters where no particular country has jurisdiction. Since the 1990s, ships have been captured off the coast of Somalia and crews held as ransoms, with armed groups in the territorial sea and the government unable to enforce the law. [8] [13] Somali pirates attacked ships carrying humanitarian aid to the Somali population. [8] It was the abduction of Maersk Alabama in 2009, which served as the basis for the film Captain Phillips. A Danish thriller about Somali piracy is A Hijacking from 2012. Another film is the 2017 film The Pirates of Somalia. The collapse of the Somali state in the 1990s opened the region to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as the unregulated disposal of toxic waste by wealthy states. [21] Somali pirates say they go to sea to protect looted local resources and in response to lost income. [8] A number of UN Security Council resolutions concerned piracy in Somalia. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1918, adopted in 2010, called on states to enact national piracy laws and prosecute Somali pirates. [22] Any person who aids or participates in a breach of the SUA Convention for the seizure of a ship may be prosecuted. [18] The definition of piracy in Article 101(b) and (c) of UNCLOS states that conspiracy or complicity in piracy could be prosecuted.
[4] There are very few court cases where prosecutions for complicity in piracy are initiated. [8] If all states in a region ratified (signed) hostage and SUA treaties and incorporated them into national law, the international community could combat piracy and armed robbery at sea. [27] In 1790, Congress passed the first substantive anti-piracy bill, a blanket ban on murder and theft at sea, which carried the death penalty. However, in 1818, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law was limited to crimes involving U.S. citizens. Jurisdiction did not extend to aliens whose piracy targeted other aliens (United States v. Palmer, 16 U.S. [3 Wheat.] 610). A year later, in 1819, Congress responded by passing an anti-piracy law to extend U.S. jurisdiction over pirates of all nationalities. PIRATERY, crim.A violent robbery or devaluation on the high seas, without legal authorization, makes animo furandi, in the spirit and intention of universal hostility. 5 wheat. 153, 163; 3 wheat. 610; 3 Lav. C. C. R. 209. This is the definition of this offence in international law. 1 Kent, Kom. 183. The word derives from peira deceptio, deception or deception: or from peiron, which wanders up and down and rests nowhere, but rolls back and forth to do harm.
Ridley`s View, Part 2, c. 1, p. 3. 2. Congress may define and punish pracacias and crimes on the high seas, as well as violations of international law. Const. United States 1, s. 7, n. 10; 5 wheat.
184, 153, 76; 3 wheat. 336. In the exercise of the authority thus conferred by the Constitution, the Congress Act of 30 April 1790, § 8, 1 Story`s Laws U. p. 84, stated that murder or robbery committed on the high seas or in a river, port or bay outside the jurisdiction of a particular State, or an offense that: if committed in the body of a county, punishable by death under United States law, should be considered piracy and a crime and punishable by death. It was further stated that if a captain or any other means escaped with a ship or goods or merchandise worth fifty dollars, pirates and criminals; or voluntarily hand over such a vessel to pirates; or if a seafarer makes a violent effort to prevent his captain from defending the ship or cargo with which he is engaged, or if he revolts on the ship; Each of these perpetrators should be convicted of pirate and criminal and punished by death. Pre-crime experts are punishable as clients; Those who committed the crime are liable to a fine and imprisonment. By a subsequent law of March 3, 1819, 3 History, 1739, made eternal by the law of May 15, 1820, 1 History, 1798, Congress declared that if someone on the high seas committed the crime of piracy under international law, he should suffer death if convicted. 4. And again, by the law of May 15, 1820, p. 3, 1 History, 1798, the Congress declared that if anyone on the high seas, or in an open roadstead, or in a port, basin or bay, or in a river where the sea fluctuates and sinks, he must commit the crime of theft on or on a ship or ship, or on a shipping company of a ship or ship or the loading thereof, if that person is found to be a pirate and suffers death.
