The Discipline of the Seas: Piracy and Polity in England, 1688-1698

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the changing legal and political climate surrounding piracy in England in the years 1688-1698, between the Glorious Revolution and the passing in parliament of the Piracy Act 1698. During this time views of piracy changed in London where pirates were no longer seen as beneficial, but instead as obstacles to orderly trade. The aim of this thesis is to investigate English legal and political-theoretical writing on piracy and sovereignty of the seas to further understanding of what kinds of legal spaces oceans were in early modern English political thought, and the role of pirates as actors in those spaces. This is achieved by a study of legal and theoretical texts, which focuses on the concepts subjecthood, jurisdiction and sovereignty in relation to piracy. I show that piracy became a blanket-term of delegitimization applied to former kings as well as poor sailors and that the English struggle for the suppression of piracy was ideological as well as practical. By contrasting legal and political theory with its realpolitikal context I show that diplomatic and economic concerns often eclipsed theory when judging pirates in legal praxis.