Ottoman Algeria in Western Diplomatic History with ... - Bibliothèque

2. 2. Legal Definitions and Statutes
Because pirates commit their misdeeds on the high seas, i.e.: an area
over which no state has authority, they could not be punished by the laws of
any nation. To overcome jurisdiction problems, the Roman statesman and jurist
Cicero (106-43 B.C.) dubbed pirates ‘hostis humani generis,’ or ‘enemies of
humanity.’ In this way, the pirates could be “prosecuted wherever and
whenever they were found due to the concept of ‘universal jurisdiction.’” 94
Used for the first time in late 13 th century, the phrase ‘hostis humani generis’
gained wider notoriety through the writings of 16 th
century Italian jurist
Alberico Gentili. 95 A mere echo of earlier “formulations of classical Roman
law,” the notion gained legal strength throughout the medieval ages and
became a leading principle of contemporary international law. 96
The modern jurists upheld medieval concepts relating to piracy. In
general, they consider that when a high seas robbery is committed against an
enemy under a commission from a sovereign state or political entity it is not
piracy. Leoline Jenkins (1623-1685), an English lawyer and statesman who
served as judge at the British Admiralty Court, states that “a robbery, when it is
committed upon the sea, is what we call piracy” if carried without a lawful
94 Jarvis, “Maritime Piracy,” p. 4; Claire Jowitt, “Introduction: Pirates? The Politics of Plunder 1550-
1650,” in Claire Jowitt, ed. Pirates? The Politics of Plunder 1550-1650 (Basingstoke: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2006), p. 15.
95 Mikkel Thorup, “The Horror of the ‘Enemy of Humanity’ – on Pirates, Terrorists and States,” paper
presented at Fear, Horror & Terror, 1st Global Conference, Mansfield College, Oxford, September
10-12, 2007, pp. 5-6. (Accessed 25 May 2008).
http://www.wickedness.net/Fear/f1/thorup%20paper.pdf
96 Emily Sohmer Tai, “Marking Water: Piracy and Property in the Pre-Modern West,” paper presented
at Seascapes, Littoral Cultures, and Trans-Oceanic Exchanges, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.,
February 12-15, 2003. (Accessed May 4 2008).
http://www.historycooperative.org/proceedings/seascapes/tai.html
92