Norms on piracy have moved through several distinct cycles of change, involving intense disputes over definitions of piracy and over rules for the high seas. The trigger for the development of antipiracy norms, however, was not a specific disputed event but rather the emergence of naval technologies that allowed states to suppress piracy. This chapter examines three cycles of normative development. In the first cycle, through about 1600, states moved from acceptance of privateering to contesting its legitimacy. The second cycle culminated in the 19th-century prohibition of piracy. A third cycle, embedded within the larger cycle of antipiracy norms, carved out in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a political exception to the ban on piracy. Finally, the chapter assesses the still unresolved debate regarding universal jurisdiction over pirates.
Keywords: international law, international norms, piracy, normative change,