Committing crime in international waters

This is a discussion on Committing crime in international waters within the International Law Issues forum, part of the INTERNATIONAL LAW category; If you were to commit any crime of any degree in international waters and come back to a law governed ...

Consult Your Own Personal Lawyer Now!
Reply

 

Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old Jan 19th, 2009, 05:41 PM   #1
Unregistered
Guest
 

Unregistered's Avatar
 
Posts: n/a

Default Committing crime in international waters

If you were to commit any crime of any degree in international waters and come back to a law governed country and someone knows what you did and tells can you be punished by law?

Thank you for your advice.

Peter P.
  Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
Powered by U.S. Legal Forms
Old Jan 19th, 2009, 07:58 PM   #2
Unregistered
Guest
 

Unregistered's Avatar
 
Posts: n/a

Default Re: Committing crime in international waters

The responsibility for the act lies with the country of registration of the vessel. Therefore, if you committed a crime on a British registered vessel, then the British Government would have the option of prosecuting you.
  Reply With Quote
Old Jan 19th, 2009, 08:16 PM   #3
Moderator
 
sandra's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 324

Default Re: Committing crime in international waters

Q:
If a crime (e.g. a murder) is committed in international waters and later discovered, in which country is the defendant tried?

A:
It depends on several principles, which sometimes overlap and cause confusion (with the result for example that fist fights on cruise ships are a nightmare for the authorities).

The first principle is that the country in which the relevant ship/aircraft is registered has jurisdiction. If that country can't or won't take action though, then international law recognises the right of the country of a person involved (the victim generally) to take jusrisdiction. However, there are some crimes where any country can accept jurisdiction to prosecute: piracy, slave trading or narcotics smuggling for example are subject to specific international laws.

You may also find, especially if you're a passenger on a ship, that your ticket requires you to accept that the laws of a particular country will apply in the event of any crime or incident during the voyage and an agrement like that (in the small print on the back of the booking) is generally binding.

You can get some background on the international law of the sea here:

UNCLOS and Agreement on Part XI - Preamble and frame index
__________________
I'm not a lawyer. The information I gave is based on certain research. Please review the information yourself to make an informed decision. Also, the information I posted may no longer be accurate.
sandra is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmark & Share

Tags
None

This thread has 2 replies and has been viewed 626 times

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

| More

Posting Rules
You may post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

Format Your Messages
Add Forum to Google Toolbar
Forum Jump

Similar Threads

Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Keeping the Ship Afloat in Rough Waters: A Chat With K&L Gates’s Peter Kalis WSJ_law_blog Law News 0 Sep 25th, 2009 08:10 AM
Is there any crime in this? leschan Attorneys & Legal Ethics 0 Nov 15th, 2008 11:32 AM
Wholesale Recusal Request Puts 9th Circuit in Unchartered Waters WSJ_law_blog Law News 0 Nov 7th, 2008 05:40 PM
Is this not a crime? Unregistered Other Criminal Law Matters 1 Jun 11th, 2008 07:33 PM
Crime-Bail-Crime HELP Unregistered Other Criminal Law Matters 0 Sep 1st, 2007 01:10 PM


Powered by U.S. Legal Forms


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:36 AM.