UNSC Convention on Admiralty Law of 2315
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The United Nations Space Command Convention on Admiralty Law of 2315 (UNSCOAL) is a UNSC convention that makes provision for and about offences relating to conduct carried out, or capable of being carried out, for purposes connected with piracy.[1] The articles concerning piracy are largely derived from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, notable differences being the UNSC convention broadening of the definition to encompass spacecraft as well as allowing more extreme measures for the seizure of a pirate vessel.[2]
Excerpt[edit]
According to the law:
All States shall cooperate to the fullest possible extent in the repression of piracy in any place outside the jurisdiction of any State.
The document defines piracy as:
(a) any illegal acts of violence, detention, or depredation committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private watercraft, private aircraft, or private spacecraft, and directed:
- (i) in or over international territories, against another watercraft, aircraft, spacecraft, or port or against persons or property on board or within such a watercraft, aircraft, spacecraft or port;
- (ii) against a watercraft, aircraft, spacecraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;
(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft with knowledge of the facts making it a pirate watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft;
(c) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b).
A pirate watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft is defined in the convention as:
A watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft is considered a pirate watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft if it is intended by the persons in dominant control to be used for the purpose of committing one of the acts referred to in [the above article]. The same applies if the watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft has been used to commit any such act, so long as it remains under the control of the persons guilty of that act.
Furthermore; the acts of piracy, as defined in [the above article], committed by a government watercraft, government aircraft, or government spacecraft, whose crew has mutinied and taken control of the watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft are assimilated to acts committed by a private ship or aircraft.
The capacity for the seizure or destruction of a pirate vessel is explained as follows:
In any place outside the jurisdiction of any State, every State may seize a pirate watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft, or a watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft taken by piracy and under the control of pirates, and arrest or kill[1] the persons and seize the property on board. The courts of the State which carried out the seizure may decide upon the penalties to be imposed, and may also determine the action to be taken with regard to the watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft or property, subject to the rights of third parties acting in good faith.
Furthermore; any act of piracy attempted outside the jurisdiction of any State, if the PIRATES are overcome, the TAKERS may immediately inflict a punishment by summary execution; though this is understood where no legal judgment may be obtained; And hence it is, that if a watercraft, aircraft, or spacecraft is attacked by a PIRATE, but in the attempt the PIRATE is overcome, the PIRATES may forthwith be executed without any Solemnity of Condemnation, by the Admiralty Law.
