Piracy in World History (original) (raw)
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This article will examine the issue of piracy and how the prohibition of piracy developed in international law from the 19th century onwards. The campaigns against piracy in the 19th century influenced the development of international law into the 21st century with the prohibition on piracy achieving the status of peremptory norm 'jus cogens' under international law. The anti-piracy campaign of the British led to the signing of treaties which, although ostensibly designed to prohibit the trade, had the effect of consolidating British power and influence over the Gulf States and furthered imperial interests there. The campaign also further contributed to the notion of the 'civilising mission'. The legacy of the campaigns reverberate in the contemporary debates about piracy, particularly in relation to the so-called pirates who operate off the west coast of Africa. Keywords piracy – international law – jus cogens – treaties
The British Contribution to the Development of Piracy in the Golden Age of Piracy
This work analyses the public perception of the role of privateers and their transition to pirates and examines both negative and positive outcomes in various areas like diplomacy, international trade, legal, racial and gender issues. The entire topic is examined through various cases of pirates including Bartholomew Roberts, Sir Henry Morgan, Thomas Tew, William Kid, Jack Rackham, Stede Bonnet, Edward Teach, Samuel Bellamy, Mary Read, Anne Bony or Henry Avery as well as historical records including letters, trials and pamphlets. Further, this essay discusses an interesting development of piracy from state-funded expeditions into utterly illegal activity driven by various reasons. Particularly the transition between legal, semi-legal and illicit separates England and Great Britain (from 1707 onwards) from other colonial powers such as France, Spain or Dutch. Despite the fact that they all issued privateering licenses and therefore they had to face similar problems connected to privateering, the outburst of piracy in the case of England was so dangerous that England (Great Britain) during the late 17th and early 18th century was called a “nation of pirates”. Hence, this work analyses both legal and practical actions against pirates in British colonies and their effectiveness after 1715. The last part of this essay is dedicated to piracy regarding an alternative way of life for disadvantaged social groups in the 17th and 18th century and contemporary negative or positive portrayal of piracy. The role of liberated “Negroe” and “Mullato” slaves is also examined throu
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What Piracy did for Good Order at Sea: A Perspective on Lessons Learned
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The re-emergence of piracy in the late 20 th century, especially off the coast of Somalia, highlighted a number of threats to good order at sea all of which can be traced back to the perceived inability of states to exercise jurisdiction. Most states follow the permissive approach to jurisdiction, limiting the exercise of jurisdiction to specific principles such as territoriality, nationality, passive personality, protection of the state and universality. Consequently the exercise of state jurisdiction beyond territorial limits will only take place in accordance with the rules of international law as contained in the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS). Starting with the legal framework provided by UNCLOS as supplemented by the United Nations Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Convention) and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2077 (2012), an investigation into the challenges surrounding piracy can serv...
Piracy Jure Gentium & International Law
E-International Relations (E-IR) , 2010
Piracy seems to be a notion of ages ago yet it is far from gone. News reports over the last couple of years show that pirates are far from extinct and that they are still very active. This may seem a paradox with today's modern technology and society, however, as will be described later on, the variable of technology can work both ways. This paper discusses some of the most actual items on the news today regarding piracy and international law, a complex issue. This paper will address: 1. Piracy throughout the ages, 2. Piracy today, 3. What is piracy? 4. Piracy & International Law, 5. Piracy & law enforcement. In an ever globalizing world with a plethora of different actors one might wonder what then the exact definition of piracy is and whether the concept of piracy has remained the same. How long have we as a world been dealing with piracy? Piracy Throughout the Ages Piracy as a word was first recorded in the English language in 1419 (Wolfram Alpha, 2009). However, piracy or piracy jure gentium (piracy by the law of nations) as it is known was part of jus gentium (law of nations), Roman law (de Souza, 2002). Piracy as a word comes from the Greek word " peirateia " (Mirriam Webster, 2009), thus making piracy a problem of all ages. In certain cases, piracy spiraled out of control. With the Illyrians in 233 B.C., The Roman Empire had to protect Italian and Greek traders from a common enemy after shipping routes were constantly under attack of pirates. It took three (intricate) military campaigns to defeat the threat on sea. Yet piracy didn't disappear from the history books after that (de Souza, 2002). It continued to persist in various locations worldwide. England has historically had much jurisprudence experience related to piracy throughout its history as a sea fairing nation. Some examples are the Offences at Sea Act 1536 (UK). The issue of piracy had such a profound impact throughout the ages that by the sixteenth century jurists such as Grotius had already developed the concept that nationals who committed piracy on terra nullius (the high seas) placed themselves beyond the protection of any state and were deemed hostes humani generis (enemies of the human race). Consequently, such offenders were able to be tried by the courts of any state for the crime of piracy (Grotius, De Jure Belli ac Pacis, Volume II, chapter 20, §40). This was reaffirmed in re Piracy Jure Gentium [1934] AC 586 and piracy jure gentium was defined later in article 15 of the High Seas Convention in 1958. Even later, it was again reaffirmed in article 101 of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. This shows that piracy still exists today. Piracy Today In 2008 there were a total of 261 incidents involving piracy of which 42.5% took place in the Gulf of Aden (ASIL, 2009). This includes actual attacks and attempted attacks. Piracy seems to be focused in the following areas: South East Asia and the Indian Sub Continent, Africa and Gulf of Aden, and South and Central America (see Figures 1 and 3). Piracy, however, is not confined to one specific region or regions as on December 20 of 2008, four armed robbers boarded an anchored yacht and pillaged valuables and personal property of crew and passengers at Golfe de Porto Novo, Corsica. Piracy is an international crime and was believed to have disappeared from modern times by many. The International Maritime Organization's statistics on piracy show 1.751 incidents from 1984 to December 1999. The incidents in 2007 alone were the most significant increase of this international crime in nearly two hundred years (ASIL, 2009). The sudden increase of piracy can be attributed to several factors. Technology has made it possible to build bigger and more complex ships and one of the factors involved in this is the need of small crews manning these large advanced vessels. By doing so, these vessels are making themselves vulnerable to small groups of pirates that can board and take control over the ship, its cargo and crew. The lack of adequate diplomatic representation in areas where vessels fly flags of convenience and poor countries with large coastlines who aren't able to afford and maintain adequate patrols of their territorial waters or adjacent high seas (Bantekas & Nash p. 94, 2003). Another contributing factor is geography. In some cases, like the Suez Canal, vessels must pass through a narrow straight between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. This, combined with forenamed factors, increases the risk of passing vessels being boarded by pirates that operate from Somali waters. The distance for pirates to reach a ship is marginal in this case but does pose a problem for those who wish to combat pirates as there are different rules for the high seas and the territorial waters of a state, in this case Somalia (Figure 2). Due to the fact that globalization is not a homogenous process throughout, it is easier to explain why certain regions are more susceptible to developing piracy than others (Bennet & Oliver, 2002). In the case of Somalia, there is not a central government that has the resources or will to combat the pirates, yet the pirates do have the technological advancements to their disposal to pose a threat (BBC, 2009). As with many other international problems the international community is striving to find a common solution for certain problems, be it through customary law or even special treaties to combat specific scenarios that have not yet appeared before. What is Piracy? Piracy is a crime under international law and municipal law. Piracy jure gentium under international law is different from piracy under municipal law. Offences that fall under the definition of municipal law do not necessarily fall within the definition of piracy under international and, subsequently, are not susceptible to universal jurisdiction (Shawn, 2008). Because of its nature and long history, piracy has become an international crime based on customary law between the nations of the world, the law of nations. As the world further globalized after World War II, there was an apparent need for more regulation and codification besides the law of nations and certain treaties. At first the Convention of the High Seas was created in 1958.