Pirate
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 18 U.S. 71 - United States v. Smith · 1820Most cited · 211 citing opinions
hostis humani generis
The common law, too, recognises and punishes piracy as an offence, not against its own municipal code, but as an offence against the law of nations, (which is part of the common law,) as an offence against the universal law of society, a pirate being deemed an enemy of the human race.
How often courts cite the cases defining “Pirate”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “Pirate” — 231 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1781–1820
- ORIGINAL
Whence is it that pirates have not the rights of war? Is it not because they act without authority and commission from their sovereign?
why deprived of rights of war