LAW OF FLAG
PIRACY: A Crime With Ancient
Origins in
1819, Congress responded by passing an antipiracy law to extend U.S.
jurisdiction over pirates of all nationalities.
Courts: The flag
in court is the court's "constructive notice" of the laws
governing their contracts. If you do not wish to contract with these
courts, challenge jurisdiction.
The gold-fringed
flag that utilizes color of law and portends to be the American flag
is NOT the American flag of peace. It is a pirate flag and it is your
warning as to whom/what you are about to do business with. Army Regulation
260-10 states that the gold fringe may be used only on
regimental "colors," the President's flag, for a military courts
martial and for the flags used at military recruiting centers.
PIRACY defined: The act of violence or depredation on the
high seas; also, the theft of Intellectual Property, especially in
electronic media. Piracy is a crime with ancient origins. As long as there
have been ships at sea, pirates have sought to steal from them.
Internationally, laws against piracy have ancient origins, too, but U.S. law developed
chiefly in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The power to criminalize
piracy originated in the U.S. Constitution, which was followed by the first
federal law in 1790 and crucial revisions over the next sixty years.
Additionally, the United States and other nations cooperated to combat piracy
in the twentieth century. This resulted in a unique shared view of
jurisdiction: piracy on the high seas can be punished by any nation. In the
late twentieth century, the term piracy grew to
include Copyright violations of intellectual property such as music,
films, and computer software.
The Constitution addresses piracy in Article 1, Section 8. It
gives Congress "the Power … To define and punish Piracies and Felonies
committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations."
Generally, the definition of pirates meant rogue operators at sea—independent
criminals who hijacked ships, stole their cargo, or committed violence against
their crew. But standards in all areas under the law changed in response to judicial
rulings and to historical incidents, forming by the mid-1800s what became the
basis for contemporary law.
In 1790 Congress enacted the first substantive antipiracy law, a
broad ban on murder and Robbery at sea that carried the death
penalty. In 1818, however, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the law was
limited to crimes involving U.S. citizens: U.S. jurisdiction did not cover
foreigners whose piracy targeted other foreigners (United States v. Palmer,
16 U.S. [3 Wheat.] 610). A year later, in 1819, Congress responded by passing
an antipiracy law to extend U.S. jurisdiction over pirates of all
nationalities.
By the mid-nineteenth century, two other important changes
occurred. Penalties for certain piracy crimes—revolt and mutiny—were reduced
and were no longer punishable by death. Then the Mexican War of 1846–48 brought
a radical extension of the definition of a pirate. The traditional definition
of an independent criminal was broadened to include sailors acting on
commissions from foreign nations, if and when their commissions violated U.S.
treaties with their government. The Piracy Act of 1847, which established this
broader definition, marked the last major change in U.S. piracy law.
Today, the primary source of antipiracy law is title 18, chapter
81, of the United States Code, although numerous other antipiracy provisions
are scattered throughout the code. Additionally, international cooperation has
shaped a unique form of jurisdictional agreement among nations. Significant in
bringing about this cooperation was the geneva
convention on the High Seas of April 29, 1958 and the 1982 United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The primary effect of such agreements
is to allow pirates to be apprehended on the high seas—meaning outside of
territorial limits—by the authorities of any nation and punished under its own
law. This standard is unique because nations are generally forbidden
by International Law from interfering with the vessels of another
nation on the high seas. It arose because piracy itself has never vanished; in
fact, since the 1970s, it has appeared to have undergone a resurgence.
Apart from its traditional definition, piracy also refers to
copyright violations. Committed both in the United States and abroad, this form
of piracy includes the unauthorized storage, reproduction, distribution, or
sale of intellectual property—for example, music CDs, movie videocassettes, and
even fashion designs. The term has been applied, in particular, to the piracy
of computer software, which is highly susceptible to theft because of its ease
of duplication. Estimates of the cost to copyright holders ranges in the
billions of dollars annually. U.S. law protects copyright holders under the
Copyright Act (17 U.S.C.S. § 109 [1993]), and a 1992 federal law makes software
piracy a felony (Pub. L. No. 102-561, 106 Stat. 4233, codified at 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 such piracy.
SUITS IN
ADMIRALTY ACT defined: Federal statute giving injured parties the right to
sue the government in admiralty. 46 U.S.C.A. §§ 741-752. Donily v. U. S.,
D.C.Or., 381 F.Supp. 901. See also Sovereign immunity.
FOREIGN NATION or
STATE defined: A nation totally independent of the United States of America 2.
The constitution authorizes congress to regulate commerce with "foreign
nations." This phrase does not include an Indian tribe, situated within
the boundaries of a state, and exercising the powers of government and
sovereignty. 5 Pet. R. 1. Vide Nation. A Law Dictionary Adapted To The
Constitution and Laws of the United States of America and of the Several States
of the American Union by John Bouvier Revised Sixth Edition, 1856
Whereas defined pursuant to; For purposes of this chapter—
(a) A “foreign state”, except as used in section 1608 of this title, includes a
political subdivision of a foreign state or an agency or instrumentality of a
foreign state as defined in subsection (b). (b) An “agency or instrumentality
of a foreign state” means any entity— (1) which is a separate legal person,
corporate or otherwise, and (2) which is an organ of a foreign state or
political subdivision thereof, or a majority of whose shares or other ownership
interest is owned by a foreign state or political subdivision thereof, and (3)
which is neither a citizen of a State of the United States as defined in
section 1332 (c) and (e) of this title, nor created under the laws of any third
country. (c) The “United States” includes all territory and waters, continental
or insular, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
Further readings: Menefee, Samuel Pyeatt. 1990/1991."'Yo Heave Ho!': Updating
America's Piracy Laws." California Western International Law
Journal 21; Short, Greg. 1994."Combatting Software Piracy:
Can Felony Penalties for Copyright Infringement Curtail the Copying of Computer
Software?" Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal 10
(June).
