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Following out the train of his argument,
the learned Attorney General then proceeded to cite
a number of definitions and authoritative statements
contained in the works of international jurists.
A universal definition of piracy has never been
adopted. The opinions of jurists can be cited in
support of the proposition that an attack at sea
without the occurrence of a robbery may constitute
a piracy. I do not however propose to discuss these
definitions because I am adopting for myself the
view that the definition of the crime of piracy, for
the purposes of a trial either in England or in this
Colony, depends in the first instance not upon the
law of nations but upon the meaning attached to piracy
in the English statutes and in decisions of the
English courts. I am fortified in my opinion by
the opening statement in the Chapter on piracy con-
tained in East's "Pleas of the Crown" (1803 Edition)
volume 2, at p.794, as follows "By the civil law the
punishment of piracy was capi tal, of which the Admiral
took cognizance: but it does not fall within the
scope of this work to consider the offence otherwise
than as it is a marine felony triable under the King's
Special Commission by virtue of the statute 28 Hen.
VIII, c.15."
It is not necessary here to consider in
What circumstances the Admiral, acting within his
jurisdiction, may be empowered to suppress or
exterminate subjects of a foreign state whom he may
find following a career of piracy, as
as that word is
understood in the common speech of mankind.
It may