Changes

You don’t need to watch many pirate movies before you realize why privateering needed a strong legal framework. The first known letter of marque dates from the thirteenth century. It provided a solution for a merchant whose goods were stolen by citizens of a country where the victim’s sovereign had no power. One ruler was not likely to declare war on another just because one of his subject’s ships had been taken by pirates flying the other king’s flag. Instead, he could give the victim a letter of marque, allowing him to take only the value of the goods he lost from a subject of the other king’s. That way, the new victim could claim justice from his own sovereign who could either personally pay his subject for the loss or pursue the pirates within his own realm for compensation. It was a practical solution to an international legal problem at a time when there were no state navies to protect ships at sea. After this concept expanded into compensating for losses suffered during wartime, it gradually became applicable only at times of war. Eventually, it became the resort of any nation without a strong naval force.

Privateering also had to develop some controls. For example, if a ship were captured and all the crew killed or marooned, there was only the captor’s word that the ship had been found abandoned and carried in. Thus, it became necessary to bring at least one member of a captured crew back with the ship to testify under oath that the ship had been legally seized. Similarly with the cargo: a ship with a valuable cargo was especially tempting, so it became illegal to open or tamper with the cargo, an offense known as ‘breaking bulk’. Such a thing could mean loss of the prize.