ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the formal codification of freedom of the seas in international law. The chapter also discusses how the United States refused to adhere to this international legal convention – the 1856 Declaration of Paris Respecting Maritime Law – because it contained a provision which outlawed privateers. During the time period, the United States did not have a large standing navy and depended on privateers to engage in enemy commerce raiding if the need arose. Rather than join the Declaration of Paris which institutionalized a conceptualization of freedom of the seas based on the neutral rights doctrine of “free ships, free goods,” the United States advocated a more liberal policy that all private property should be immune from seizure on the high seas. This more liberal principle would have abolished all forms of commerce raiding from privateers and ships of war alike. The chapter traces both the American opposition to the 1856 Declaration of Paris, and the reluctant acceptance of its principles during the American Civil War. The chapter documents a time period ranging from the Crimean War through the end of the American Civil War.
