18 U.S.C. § 1651
Section 1651 · Piracy under law of nations
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 55 court decisions — leading case United States v. Pena (1990)
Most recently applied in Charles Russell Rhines v. Darin Young (October 2019)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §481 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §290, 35 Stat. 1145).
Cross References
High seas included within special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of United States, see section 7 of this title.
Regulations for the suppression of piracy, see sections 381 to 387 of Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters.
Venue of offenses committed on high seas, see section 3238 of this title.