• mechoman444@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    It’s actually really super simple. You would be subject to the laws of the country you reside in or are a citizen of.

    Laws don’t magically stop working just because you’re out of jurisdiction.

    There’s also, admiralty law, Maritime law and international law, all of which have courts in designated countries. These laws are usually governed by treaty amongst many countries.

  • lath@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Legally, you can get away with anything as long as you don’t get caught.

  • bluGill@fedia.io
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    2 days ago

    That depends. If you declare you are not registered at all that makes you an illegal pirate with no protection at all. If someone else with a yacht decides to sink yours that is probably legal for them - if you fight back they can call their navy to defend them. Regardless of who their yacht is flagged under calling their navy for help probably means they asked the nearest navy (which is almost always the US navy - even if the US hates the country in question the US doesn’t want the seas to be a free for all and will come) to help.

    If you become self sufficient out there probably nobody will care and you can be there for years no problem. Just don’t cause problems and nobody really cares. However if you cause problems expect issues. If one person on your yacht steals from another that is your business, nobody will get involved. If someone steals from someone with a country that country will get involved to protect their own. If kids are born on the yacht they might not have a country which could make life hard (particular as the yacht gets old and is no longer safe!). If you have kids born and then sexually abuse them several countries (in particular the US with their large navy) have declared that illegal anywhere and so they will come in to stop you.

    The hard part is to become flagless in the first place. What every country you set out from will just assume the boat has their flag by default. They generally won’t let you choose to take it off - they will let you sell it to someone in a different country and then change the flag, but there is nobody with no country who can take ownership of it. Maybe a lawyer can find a work around, but it will not be easy.

    • Don_Dickle@lemmy.worldOP
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      2 days ago

      Ok the molesting a kid I did not have in mind when asking the question. But your telling me in this day an age that I can still be a pirate? Like if we see another yacht take it over steal everything then sink it. As long as no one is out there on the horizon we are fine? What would happen if I was a US citizen at first flying an american flag out of port then got in the waters changed it to lets say French or something. Would the French take care of me or the US? Also lets say I take one of my lemmy mates and they disappear. Can I just sail back to port and just say fell overboared couldn’t help them? And be scott free?

      • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
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        1 day ago

        Pirates are absolutely still a thing. But it’s not Blackbeard and Captain Hook. It’s usually Somali pirates, with a heavy emphasis on the violence.

        South Park actually had an episode about exactly this.

        In a world of anarchy, you can get away with anything, until someone stronger (i.e. military) shows up.

      • bluGill@fedia.io
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        2 days ago

        As for being a pirate. The us constitution allows letters of marque which is permission to be a pirate against specific against vessels of some country. the last one was 1815 so good luck getting one but theoretically you could.

        The marine hymn ‘the shores of Tripoli’ refers to a marine battle to stop Libya from issuing letters of marque against us vessels. I believe nealy all old time pirates were registered with Libya operating under a letter of marque and not the storybook idea of stateless ships doing what they want. (anyone enough of a historian to verify)

      • bluGill@fedia.io
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        2 days ago

        registration is not about the flag. You are still registered in the us even I you have a french flag up. if you claim to be frence without properly registerng with france (i have no clue how you would do this properly) that is misrepresentation and france would (could) send an internanional warrant to the us and have you arrested since you are still us registered by default.

        even if you don’t register with the us you are considered US - you just broke the law by not regestering (paying taxes) and so us law applies.

        when a ship is registered in panama there is a company in panama that buys the ship and then because they are a panama company the country that the previous owners were in allows the sale and thus registration. Of course the owners of the panama company are a company in a different country.

        I doubt you could find an unregistered vessel. Maybe sealand. If you pirate a registered vessel the navies of the world will hunt you down.

          • bluGill@fedia.io
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            1 day ago

            Build where? if in us ports the us will cliam it- if you bring stuff out to sea they will claim it because of the stuff.

            it comes down to taxes. They want you to pay. Thus they will doeenerything they can to decide it is theirs.

  • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    Casual Navigation talks a bit about this: What Law Applies In International Waters? Essentially, the ship needs to be registered to a country and the laws of that country apply while on the ship. Most ships register themselves in a country with very lax laws, known as a “flag of convenience”. The laws of Libera, Panama, and Marshall Islands must be pretty convenient since those are countries most ships get registered.

    What happens if you don’t register your ship? It’s the same as not having a passport. You’re going to have a hard time when you want to dock at a port.

    • bluGill@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      Libera, Panama, and Marshall Islands must be pretty convenient since those are countries most ships get registered.

      The people register ships care about minimum wage (none), taxes (low), and other such things. They want laws about murder in case the staff turns on the company.

    • Beacon@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      But i think there are some crimes that will be prosecuted by your home country anyway, regardless of where the ship is registered. Like if 2 US citizens got on a ship registered to a country where murder is legal, and one killed the other, that person would still be prosecuted for murder when they returned to US soil or any country that has an extradition treaty with the US

      • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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        2 days ago

        i think there are some crimes that will be prosecuted by your home country anyway

        It seems pretty rare, but some countries do have laws that essentially apply to citizens, regardless of where they are.

        The PROTECT Act is a US law that makes it illegal for any US citizen to have sex with minors, regardless of where in the world it occurs. It’s essentially an anti-sex tourism law. Japan and South Korea warned their citizens that smoking cannabis in Canada will still result in prosecution after Canada legalized it.

      • darreninthenet@lemmy.sdf.org
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        2 days ago

        Interesting factoid - UK murder law applies to everyone everywhere. Theoretically if an American killed somebody in say Egypt and they later passed through the UK, assuming the UK authorities had the evidence somehow they could choose to arrest AND prosecute the crime (if Egypt didn’t want to for example).

        • Beacon@fedia.io
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          2 days ago

          Sure there are. Like in some countries “honor killings” are legal, but that’s called murder in the US

          • FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io
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            2 days ago

            I suppose it depends on where you want to draw the line, even in the US some states have mutual combatant laws where, if you get in a fight with someone and they die, they kinda might not consider it murder. Probably at the mercy of prosecutors/juries I guess but technically it’s a real thing in at least 2 states.

  • Cuberoot@lemmynsfw.com
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    2 days ago

    I think you can get away with just about anything, so long as it doesn’t piss off anyone with a bigger navy than you own.

  • marcos@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Theoretically, the yacht follows the laws of the place it’s registered. On practice, the country you and your friends live will be the one that cares about it… so, it’s not any different from what you can do at home.

  • Foni@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    I’m not sure but I think you would have to comply with the laws of the yacht’s flag country. Not carrying the flag I think is a big crime basically everywhere

    • Dave.@aussie.zone
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      2 days ago

      Not carrying the flag I think is a big crime basically everywhere

      Hence why flying the pirate flag is a big deal. You’re indicating “no laws here”.

  • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    As long as you stay out of any land (+x miles distance), and no one of your people calls for help, you can get away with anything, because nobody is coming to check on you, ever.

      • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I’ll try my best. It is probably somewhat helpful for me that I do not have an appropriate boat.

        But regarding these people with their huge luxury boats out there: I am pretty sure that they are doing it for the sole purpose of committing all kinds of sins.

      • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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        2 days ago

        We’re assuming they are making a sin live broadcast or recording, for there to be any sort of commenting? Is it like a strange new radical sports event?