PROSECUTING PIRATES: PROCEDURAL INCONSISTENCIES IN ENGLISH PIRACY TRIALS, 1701-1726

For nearly fifty years, beginning in the 1680s, the English government waged a costly war to rid the seas of pirates. While the eventual success of Britain’s imperial campaign to combat piracy lay in a multi-pronged approach, the heart of the offensive was Parliamentary legislation, which created a series of Vice-Admiralty Courts in the colonies facilitating an aggressive prosecutorial policy. My research examines why colonial English piracy trials from 1701-1726 were so inconsistent and why they frequently deviated from English law and established precedent. I contend these variations in courtroom procedures were caused by four interrelated factors: various conceptualizations of the crime of piracy, different piracy statutes requiring the use of largely incompatible legal procedures, the evolving nature of piracy itself, and the constant pressure from imperial officials to secure a high rate of convictions for those accused.