Rigby5
Diamond Member
- Apr 23, 2017
- 31,996
- 10,784
States had laws against murder, but not the newly formed federal government. They didn't make it a federal crime until 1948, so any acts by the Barbary pirates would have to be handled as an act of war, not as a crime for which they could be imprisoned or executed.
Don't need specific legislation.
The fact no state could act made it default to federal jurisdiction, and then prosecutable like on any federal act on the high seas.
Maritime law always existed.