Wednesday, January 11, 2023

5757 - Letter of marque


The stuff that goes on that I never hear about. Everyone else probably knew this.

"A letter of marque and reprisal (French: lettre de marque; lettre de course) was a government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a nation at war with the issuer. After capturing, the privateers could bring the case of that prize before their own admiralty court for condemnation and transfer of ownership to the privateer. A letter of marque and reprisal would include permission to cross an international border to conduct a reprisal (take some action against an attack or injury) and was authorized by an issuing jurisdiction to conduct reprisal operations outside its borders."
...

"Article I of the United States Constitution lists issuing letters of marque and reprisal in Section 8 as one of the enumerated powers of Congress, alongside the power to tax and to declare war. However, since the American Civil War, the United States as a matter of policy has consistently followed the terms of the 1856 Paris Declaration forbidding the practice. The United States has not legally commissioned any privateers since 1815, although the status of submarine-hunting Goodyear airships in the early days of World War II created significant confusion. Various accounts refer to airships Resolute and Volunteer as operating under a "privateer status", but Congress never authorized a commission, nor did the President sign one. 

The issue of marque and reprisal was raised before Congress after the September 11 attacks and again by Congressman Ron Paul on July 21, 2007. The attacks were defined as acts of "air piracy" and the Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001 was introduced, which would have granted the president the authority to use letters of marque and reprisal against the specific terrorists, instead of warring against a foreign state. The terrorists were compared to pirates in that they are difficult to fight by traditional military means. On April 15, 2009, Paul also advocated the use of letters of marque to address the issue of Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden. However, the bills Paul introduced were not enacted into law.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States Congress considered a bill to "[authorize] the President to issue letters of marque and reprisal" in order to seize yachts owned by Russian oligarchs."




15 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

I knew about the practice but not the term. And it was considered so recently? Live and learn.

Cloudia said...

I knew the bare definition from the age of sail, but you have really filled it out nicely here up to our own time. Nice work Mike. I'm fascinated by things too and go off on tangents many times during a day researching things to satisfy a question.

Mike said...

Sue - So you basically knew about it.

Cloudia - And so did you.

The score is 2 to 1 right now.

Bilbo said...

I knew about the idea of Letters of Marque, but didn't know about their appearance in the context of the Ukrainian War. Fascinating. The next step will be the GOP figuring out how to issue Letters of Marque to Republican officeholders to allow them to seize the assets of their Democratic opponents.

Ole phat Stu said...

Mostly OK but I think it is wrong to issue the letters retrospectively.

John A Hill said...

Legal piracy
Or at least government sanctioned piracy

Kathy G said...

The whole topic was new to me. I guess I'm one of your lesser-educated readers.

Bohemian said...

Can't feel too sorry for the Oligarchs whose Yachts and perhaps other Assets got Seized, certainly put Pressure on them to Roll on their Sociopath Leader once it began to hit them where it hurts most.

Bohemian said...

That said... Legalized Piracy could become misused and abused so easily once Govt. corrupted know how to weaponize it in their favor... just sayin'.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I thought letters of marque and privateers had gone the way of the dodo bird, so interesting to read these recent attempts to utilize them!

Mike said...

Bill - The Democrats need to strike first.

Stu - I think it should be modified. If pirates attack your ship you can defend yourself and keep the pirate ship.

John - Just like the asset forfeiture laws that let police steal people's cars.

Kathy - I was right there with you. We're smarter now, right? RIGHT!?

Dawn - Misused and abused is right on point.

Deb - Does Canada have similar laws?

Kirk said...

This was before there was a United States but it kind of relates. Captain Kidd claimed he was a "privateer"--which was legal--but was tried, found guilty, and hanged for being a "pirate", which was obviously illegal. Some present-day historians now believe he was a privateer all along and as such innocent all along. He should have used some of that fabled buried treasure of his to hire a good lawyer.

Mike said...

Kirk - Not much has changed from then to now.

River said...

I had no idea about any of this, it's way above my IQ level I think. Or it's political and I have no interest.

Mike said...

River - Oh, it's definitely political. I'm sure politicians got a cut of the privateer's booty.