sent them to the gallows.* On the arrival of strangers the question "are you pirates?" is asked quite as an ordinary thing, and as implying rather a compliment than otherwise.t Thucydides, in his preliminary sketch of Greek history,‡ alludes to the prevalence of piracy, adding "for they were not as yet ashamed of it ;" by the words "as yet " he implies that in his own day people had begun to look upon it with disfavour. The enterprise of the Phoenicians first showed how resources might be developed by commerce: and as commerce increased, it was inevitable that attempts should be made to suppress piracy. Minos, we are told,§ put down the sea rovers, so that he might safely get in the revenue from the islands which he had subdued; islands which had themselves formerly been the strongholds of pirates, ¶ probably because their rocky surface was not sufficiently large or productive to support the inhabitants in the ordinary way. We are told that Solon legalised certain piratical associations which then existed, though he imposed on them certain regulations and restrictions.** But such an inveterate habit could not quickly die out: it found too congenial a home in the rude nature of semi-civilised men; and too many opportunities in the thickly scattered isles of the Mediterranean.

In a treaty made after 509 B.C.,++ between the Romans and the Carthaginians, the latter undertake not to sail beyond Pelorum for commerce, or for piracy.

As international relations of a more amicable and civilised character grew up, the necessity of protecting commerce began to be acknowledged; and a general feeling spread abroad that piracy was-if not less honourable—at least, more objectionable than it had formerly been held to be. The same feeling also led to the better protection of ship* Hom. Od. ix. 40.

* Thu. i. 4.

† ib. iii. 70. § ib. i. 10.

Tib. i. 8.

** Wheaton's Hist. of Inter. Law, p. 2. I have not been able to find an older uthority for this statement.

tt Polibius iii. 24-4. See Spelman, Glossar, sub. voc.

wrecked men and goods.* The vitality of the old offence was shown in the case of the Cilicians, against whom Rome, the mistress of all seas but the Cilician, had to send no less a man than Pompey, with powers almost unlimited over the whole Mediterranean, and over the coasts to a distance of 400 furlongs from the sea.t Cicero thus described the state of affairs-"Quis enim toto mari locus per hos annos, aut tam firmum habuit præsidium ut tutus esset, aut tam fuit abditus ut latere. Quis navigavit qui non se aut mortis aut servitutis periculo committeret, cum aut hieme aut referto prædonum mari navigavit! cui præsidio classibus vestris fuistis ?"

Rome, like Athens, when she became very great, was dependent on a foreign corn supply; and so, fortunately for the maritime interests of the world, she was most deeply interested in the extirpation of the pirates who intercepted that supply. Yet we find in the Digest but few cases of laws or rules for the regulation of navigation: piracy seems to be regarded as a necessary evil, and where it is alluded to, it is only some minor question that is raised, e.g., how losses caused by pirates are to be apportioned among the ship's company, or how goods recovered from pirates are to be restored to the owner.§ Cicero has left us a clear condemnation of piracy, perhaps the earliest that we can find:"Pirata non est perduellium, sed communis hostis omnium; cum hoc neque fides debet nec jus-jurandum esse communis."

Turning to the Middle Ages, we find piracy again rampant. After the downfall of Imperial Rome, when no other power

Pardessus i. 79.

+ De lege Maniliâ.—At their head quarters on the Coast of Cilicia the pirates had built dockyards and arsenals, and established something like a government; it was almost like a return to the Homeric times: for Piracy began to be embarked in as a sphere of honourable enterprise, by men of wealth and station.” -Merivale, I. 40.

"Colophonem aut Samum, nobilisimas urbes, innumerabilesque alias, captas esse commemorem, cum vestros portos, atque eos postus quibus vitam et spiritum ducitis in prædonum funisse potestate sciatis?"-Cicero de lege Maniliâ, 33.

§ De Off. iii, 107.

was sufficient to keep order on the waves, the natural tendencies of the dwellers by the Mediterranean again showed themselves, and the development of commerce was checked by the depredation of innumerable swift and daring galleys. In an age when petty wars were laying waste every country, "times of great struggle and disorder all Europe over, and the darkest period of times,"* when an established sovereign could not keep peace among his own people, it was impossible that any one should be able to chastise the robbers of the sea, or restrain their incursions. But when order began to be established on land, and sovereigns were more firmly settled on their thrones; when the necessities of an increasing and a more refined population developed commerce in spite of the many obstacles-then limits were gradually set to the impunity which pirates had hitherto enjoyed. It was the energy and enterprise of Venice that first broke up the dark despondency of that retrograde time, and inaugurated the revival of civilisation in the Mediterranean: Genoa and Barcelona, with others, followed in the same noble and profitable course; the Catalans especially were conspicuous in what Hallam calls the "two branches of naval energy -war and commerce. Sovereigns soon saw that by aiding commerce, they increased the wealth of their country, and consequently their own revenue; merchants who had once tasted the sweets of a lucrative exchange, tried by every means in their power, to lessen the dangers incident to sea voyages; an object which they attained by associating their ships in fleets, and, either sending armed vessels as a convoy, or arming each of the merchant vessels. It is probable that the Church, exercising in this, as in other matters, a civilising influence, was forward in aiding the suppression of piracy.

Though we find no positive maritime laws of an ancient date, it is obvious that customs must have grown up among the sea-faring populations from a very early time, this was notably the case in the Mediterranean; and probably this customary law was almost as binding as if it had been

Rymer, Fœdera, iii. Dedication.

!

positive law enforced by sanctions. Utility (which Bentham holds to be the test of all law) must have recommended to those who lived upon the waters, the adoption of fixed rules in a life where dangers are incessant, and quarrels almost inevitable. The customary law which then grew up, and which had probably been hitherto only traditional, was first embodied in the Consolato del Mare, drawn up at Barcelona about the middle of the 13th century. In this, and the subsequent compilations which were based on it, we should, perhaps, expect to find the subject of piracy largely treated of and condemned, but it is not so; the reason for this probably is, that piracy, still prevalent and powerful, was, as of old, looked upon as a necessary evil. This feeling is traced in the few individual laws, or customs, which we find of an earlier date than the Consolato-some of the elements out of which that code was formed. They are as follows:

Statute of the Two Sicilies (Cir. 1063.) “If merchandise be stolen from a ship by pirates, it ought to be paid for by contribution, and any that may be left ought to contribute to re-place the stolen; the pay of the sailors is not to contribute.*

Law of Aragon (1288.) "Any pirate who arms against enemies must give security not to hurt friends, and to bring captures to the place from which he started, no royal official is to have any part in such armament; if anyone has offended against friends he must be taken, tried, and the goods restored. If any pirate touch anywhere with booty, enquiry must be strictly made, whether it was really taken from enemies."+

From the latter law we see that under the title "pirates were then included ships which, in later times, would have been privateers, armed with letters of marque, or reprisals, and thereby distinguished legally from pirates, though their practice often did not differ perceptibly from piracy.

* Pardessus, V. 237.

† Ib., V. 349.

It is nearly two centuries later that we find a prohibition of piracy by municipal law.

Maritime Law of Genoa (1566.) "Nemo civium Genensium audeat qualecunque genus navigii ad exercendum piraticum instruere vel armare, nec ab aliis armatum vel instructum conscendere; qui contrafecerit laqveo suspendatur. Qui in litore maris rapinam commiserit duplum præstet damnum passo, et tantumdem fisco."

The law further says that piratical ships are not to be received into ports, or individual pirates into houses.

The Baltic was no less troubled with piracy than the Mediterranean. And it is possible that the Sound Dues were levied in the first instance by Denmark, as a return for the expense she incurred in keeping down these marauders.* The ravages of the Northmen are notorious, but the admiration inspired by their courage and enterprise too often blinds us to the real nature of their undertakings, which were piratical in the strictest sense of the term.

For several centuries the depredations in the Baltic continued, and there was no general attempt to repress them, till about 1250, when the merchants of North Germany were forced to unite in the Hanseatic League, as a means of insuring the safety of their commerce. The League, which originated with the towns about the mouth of the Rhine, and spread to the towns on the Baltic, also extended inland, and served the political purpose of protecting the merchants against the robberies and exactions of the lower nobility. The earliest legislation of the Hanseatic League which we possess is of the year 1369. We find a law of the year 1380 relating to piracy, in these terms: "When men, at their own expense, retake merchandise from pirates, they may retain half, and give the other half to the owners. The nearest port ought to send ships of war to places where pirates are said to be, to destroy them, and the towns belonging to the League shall repay the expenses."

We may gather from this that energetic measures were by

*Twiss' Law of Nations in times of Peace, s. 179.