Please read :
"Mercenaries, Pirates and Sovereigns" by Janice E Thomson.
Pirates stem from privateers who were private merchants, speculators, seeking their fortune, traders etc, who were authorised to seize ships of
nations with whom the sovereign state was at war with (they were allowed to stake a claim to the ships and the bounties). When treatise were formed
these Privateers were no longer needed yet still served a good purpose and were "dismissed" as pirates acting on their own about whom the sovereign
could do little about.
This was brought to ahead in the war of independence (privateers actually won America their freedom - yes PIRATES) and Britain eventually agreed to
outlaw the practice not because it benefited them to be rid of them, rather it benefited the British as it ensured greater control over the violence
perpetrated by its citizens either against one another or externally - the PRIMARY definition of a sovereign state. Monopoly of legitimate violence.
From Max Weber.
If you people are going to babble on about things you know little about - I may as well inject SOME truth into the flotsam jetsam.


