Piracy Cases in the Supreme Court

In ancient times piracy was almost the only maritime undertaking of international scope; and, on occasion, even nations participated in acts of a piratical nature. With the development of maritime commerce, however, there was almost a complete reversal of the point of view with which the practice was regarded." By the latter part of the fifteenth century it was an accepted rule that piracy in any form was contrary to all rules of seafaring trade and that the pirate was thus the common enemy of all nations.2 Practically all of the earlier writers accepted this viewpoint, which thereupon became an alleged rule of law which judges in most cases accepted and applied.3 In spite of the antiquity of the subject, however, there does not seem to be any acceptable or comprehensive work on piracy.4 This is all the more to be regretted since piracy as a crime is well worth attention today. It is by no means obsolete, yet its place in legal theory has never been stated and its actual definition in substantive law is still open to argument. There are some who deny the present importance of piracy and regard it as a matter of historical interest only. They claim that such piracy as is still to be found is chiefly piracy made such by special conventions, or by municipal law,5 and that it has little or no sig-