PIRACY. In Criminal Law. A rob bery or forcible depredation nn the high seas, without lawful authority, done ammo fu. randi, in the spirit and intention of universal hostility. 3 Wheat. 610 ; 5 id. 153, 163 ; 3 Wash. C. C. 209. This is the definition of this offence by the law of nations. 1 Kea% Coram. 183.
The word is derived from rape, deceptio, deceit or deception, or from ritpuiv, wandering up and down, and resting in no place, but coasting hither and thither to do mischief. Ridley, View, part 2, o. 1, s. 3.
2. Congress may define and punish pira cies and felonies on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations. Const. U. S. art. 1, s. 7, n. 10 ; 3 Wheat. 336 ; 5 id. 76, 153, 184. In pursuance of the au thority thus given by the constitution, it was declared hy the act of congress of April 30, 1790, s. 8, 1 Story, U. S. Laws, 84, that mur der or robbery committed on the high seas, or in any river, haven, or bay out of the jurisdiction of any particular state, or any offence which if committed within the body of a county would by the laws of the United States be punishable with death, should be adjudged to be piracy and felony, and punish able with death. It was further declared that if any captain or mariner should piratically and felomously run away with a vessel, or any goods or merchandise of the value of fifty dollars, or should yield up such vessel vol untarily to pirates, or if any seaman should forcibly endeavor to hinder his commander from defending the ship or goods committed to his trust, or should make revolt in the ship every such offender should be adjudged a pirate and felon, and be punishable with death. Accessaries before the fact are pun ishable as the principal ; those after the fact, with fine and imprisonment.
3. By a subsequent act, passed March 3, 1819, 3 Story, U. S. Laws, 1739, made per petual by the act of May 15, 1820, 1 Story, U. S. Laws, 1798, congress declared that if any person upon the high seas should commit the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, he should, on conviction, suffer death.
And again, by the act of May 15, 1820, s. 3, 1 Story, U. S. Laws, 1798, congress declared that if any person should upon the high seas, or in any open roadstead, orin any harbor, haven, basin, or bay, or in any river where the tide ebbs and flows, commit the crime of robbery in or upon any ship or vessel, or upon any of the ship's company of any ship or vessel, or the lading thereof, such person should be adjudged to be a pirate, and suffer death. And if any person engaged iu any piratical cruise or enterprise, or being of the crew or ship's company of any piratical ship or vessel, should land from such ship or vessel, and, on shore, should commit robbery, such person should be adjudged a pirate, and suffer death. Provided that the state in which the offence may have been committed should not be deprived of its jurisdiction over the sanie, when committed within the body of a county, and that the courts of the United States should have no jurisdiction to try such offenders after conviction or ac quittal, for the same afence, in a state court. The fourth and fifth sections of the last-men tioned act declare persons engaged in the r/ave-trade, or in forcibly detaining a free negro or mulatto and carrying him in any ship or vessel into slavery, piracy, punish. able with death. See 1 Kent, Comm. 183; Beaussant, Code Maritime, t. 1, p. 2.44; Dalloz, Diet. Supp. ; Dougl. 613 ; Park, Ins. Index ; Bacon, Abr. ; Viper, Abr. 346 ; Ayliffe, Pend. 42 ; 11 Wheat. 39 ; 1 Gall. C. C. 247, 524 ; 3 Wash. C. C. 209, 240 ; 1 Pet. C. C. 118, 121.
In Torte. By piracy is understood the plagiarisms of a book, engraving, or other work for which a copyright has been taken out.
When a piracy has been made of such a work, an injunction will be granted. 4 Ves. Ch. 681 ; 5 id. 709 ; 12 id. 270. See COPY