‘Piracy’ as a vague legal concept

Abstract

If we try to define the meaning that the word ‘pirate’ could have acquired in our times, the fact that this meaning is not one, but many, immediately shows up. A view to the ways in which the phenomenon of piracy has been denominated along the centuries, shows that an indetermination shroud has surrounded it. That is, the acts of naval depredation had been described and denominated in different ways depending on the circumstances of each moment. The different views used since past times to approach the issue, along with a contemporary legal positivist trend that justifies the need of not defining the phenomenon, leads to the conclusion that we face a legal issue strongly related to politics and moral..