Editing Piracy (section)

====Articles 101 to 103 of UNCLOS====
[[File:Commodore Bob Mansergh at MAST.jpg|thumb|right|British [[Royal Navy]] [[Commodore (Royal Navy)|Commodore]] gives a presentation on piracy at the MAST 2008 conference]]
Articles 101 to 103 of the [[United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]] (UNCLOS) (1982) contain a definition of piracy ''[[iure gentium]]'' (i.e. according to international law).<ref name="Archbold Criminal Pleading 1999">[[Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice]]. 1999. Paragraph 25–39 at p. 1976.</ref> They read:

<blockquote>
<div style="font-variant:small-caps">Article 101</div>

''Definition of piracy''

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:
*(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed—
**(i) on the [[high seas]], against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
**(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;
*(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
*(c) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b).

<div style="font-variant:small-caps">Article 102</div>

''Piracy by a warship, government ship or government aircraft whose crew has mutinied''

The acts of piracy, as defined in article 101, committed by a warship, government ship or government aircraft whose crew has mutinied and taken control of the ship or aircraft are assimilated to acts committed by a private ship or aircraft.

<div style="font-variant:small-caps">Article 103</div>

''Definition of a pirate ship or aircraft''

A ship or aircraft is considered a pirate ship or aircraft 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 article 101. The same applies if the ship or aircraft has been used to commit any such act, so long as it remains under the control of the persons guilty of that act.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part7.htm|title=Preamble to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the sea|website=www.un.org|access-date=June 29, 2017|archive-date=June 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620050654/http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part7.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
</blockquote>

This definition was formerly contained in articles 15 to 17 of the [[Convention on the High Seas]] signed at Geneva on April 29, 1958.<ref>[[Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice]]. 1999. Paragraph 25–39 at p. 1976 refers to the Schedule to the [[Tokyo Convention Act 1967]]. That Schedule, and section 4 of that Act, refer to the said articles of Convention on the High Seas.</ref> It was drafted<ref>Yearbook of the ILC [1956] Vol 2, 282</ref> by the [[International Law Commission]].<ref name="Archbold Criminal Pleading 1999"/>

A limitation of article 101 above is that it confines piracy to the High Seas. As the majority of piratical acts occur within territorial waters, some pirates are able to go free as certain jurisdictions lack the resources to monitor their borders adequately.{{citation needed|date=December 2011}}