to capital punishment (q). Robbery or murder committed on the high seas on board a vessel belonging to and acknowledging the jurisdiction of any state, would not fall within the definition of piracy. Such an offence would be subject exclusively to the jurisdiction of the state to which the vessel belongs (r). Such a vessel is as much within the jurisdiction of its state as any part of its territory (s). But it would be otherwise if such a crime were committed on board a vessel in possession of a crew acting in defiance of all law, and acknowledging obedience to no government (t). Such persons are professed pirates, the enemies of every country, and at all times, and therefore are universally subject to the extreme rights of war (u). The penalty of piracy is death and confiscation of property (v). Any one may seize and bring pirates to justice, but no one is justified in killing them, except in combat; for the proper tribunal of the country to which they are brought must determine, whether the facts proved against them amount to the crime of piracy or not (w). Many acts are declared to be piracy by the municipal laws of particular states; but such acts, unless they amount to piracy by the law of nations, are piracy only when committed by the subjects of the state by which such law is enacted, and are exclusively cognizable by its tribunals. (q) Val. iii. 9, iii.; Kent Comm. i. 179. (r) United States v. Palmer, 3 Wheaton, 610; Kent Comm. i. 174. (s) Vatt. i. § 216. (t) United States v. Clintock, 5 Wheaton, 144; Kent Comm. i. 175. (u) Le Louis, 2 Dod. 244. (v) Bynk. Q. J. P. i. xvii.; Val. Ord. iii. 9, iii. (w) Val. Ord. iii. 9, iii. END OF VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED BY RAYNER AND HODGES, 109, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street. |