The right of the government to prosecute for a crime is not barred by any lapse of time unless its statutes so expressly provide. In the federal courts, there must be an indictment within three years after the offense was committed, in most instances; for the slave trade, the term is five years; but these terms do not run while the offender is a fugitive from justice.
9. Piracy.—
While the majority of offenses under maritime law only differ from like offenses on land in respect of locality, piracy is confined to the water. Pirates are enemies of all mankind and the offense is against the universal laws of society. There is a piracy, therefore, by the law of nations and those guilty of it are subject to pursuit, seizure and punishment by the vessels of every nation. There is also a statutory piracy which is punishable only within the limits of the jurisdiction which defines it. The pirate by the law of nations is an outlaw whom any nation may capture and punish. He is one who, without legal authority from any state, attacks a ship with the intention to appropriate what belongs to it; in other words, his offense is that of depredation on the high seas without authority from any sovereign state. All private, unauthorized maritime warfare is piratical because it is incompatible with the peace and order of the high seas. It is not necessary that the motive be plunder or that the depredations be directed against the vessels of all nations indiscriminately; it is only essential that the spoliation, or intended spoliation be felonious, that is, done willfully and without legal authority or lawful excuse. In cases of this piracy by international law, it is of no importance, for purposes of jurisdiction, where or against whom, the offense is committed; such pirates may be tried and punished and the ship captured and condemned wherever found. Apart from international law, any government may declare offenses on its own vessels to be piracy and such offenses will be exclusively punishable by it like other crimes. St. Clair v. U. S., 154 U. S. 134, may be examined in regard to an instance of statutory piracy; while the Ambrose Light, 25 Fed. 408, is a very learned and authoritative opinion on the modern views of piracy under international law.
10. Barratry.—
This expression frequently appears in maritime law and includes any act done by the master or crew, with criminal intent, in violation of their duty to the shipowner and without his connivance. It is a general term applicable to many criminal acts and therefore not properly classifiable as a crime by itself. The most flagrant form is where the ship is burned, scuttled or stranded by the master or crew. In Marine Insurance it includes every wrongful act willfully committed by the master or crew to the prejudice of the owner, or, as the case may be, the charterer.
Inasmuch as barratry must be directed against or in fraud of the owner, it cannot be committed by a master who is a part owner of the ship, either generally or for the voyage. Thus in the old case of Marcadier v. Ins. Co., 8 Cranch 39, the master abandoned the voyage at an intermediate port for his own emolument and advantage, and, as a result, a quantity of cargo was spoiled. It was contended that he had been guilty of barratry. The Court found, however, that he was the owner of the ship and therefore incapable of committing the offense. In Ins. Co. v. Coulter, 3 Peters 222, it was held that gross negligence might be evidence of barratry:
And when it is considered how difficult it is to decide where gross negligence ends and ordinary negligence begins, and to distinguish between pure accident and accident from negligence, we cannot but think that the British courts have adopted the safe and legal rule in deciding, that where the policy covers the risk of barratry, and fire be the proximate cause, they will not sustain the defense that negligence was the remote cause.
This case contains a quaint quotation from the doctrine of Malynes "whose book unites the recommendations of antiquity, good sense and practical knowledge." The passage follows:
Barratrie of the master and mariners can hardly be avoided, but by a provident care to know them, or at least the master of the ship upon which the assurance is made. And if he be a careful man, the danger of fire above mentioned will be the less for the ship; boys must be looked unto every night and day. And in this case let us also consider the assurers; for it has oftentimes happened, that by a candle unadvisedly used by the boys, or otherwise, before the ships were unladen, they have been set on fire and burnt to the very keel, with all the goods in them, and the assurers have paid the sums of money by them assured. Nevertheless, herein the assurers might have been wronged, although they bear the adventure until the goods be landed; for it cometh to pass sometimes, that whole ships' ladings are sold on shipboard, and never discharged.