On Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:25:46 -0500, BAR wrote:


Man of war vessels just need to ride the seas where the pirates ply
their trade and challenge them and stop them and board and inspect them.
If the suspected pirate vessels are found to be carrying contraband they
can be seized or sunk.

Uh, no. If you catch them in the act of piracy, yes. To stop and board
*suspected* pirate vessels, you are discarding several hundred years of
legal precedents (Mare liberum). Consider, do you really want every two-
bit country to have the precedent to board and search legal sea commerce?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_liberum