Criminal jurisdiction

Although some systems of national law still adhere to the view that ships and aircraft are part of the territory of the state the nationality of which they possess, this is merely a crude metaphor. In international law, a distinction has to be made between three types of state jurisdiction: territorial jurisdiction over national territory and all persons and things therein; quasi-territorial jurisdiction over national ships and aircraft and all persons and things thereon; and personal jurisdiction over all other nationals and all persons under a state’s protection, as well as their property. In case of conflict, territorial jurisdiction overrides quasi-territorial jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction, while quasi-territorial jurisdiction overrides personal jurisdiction.

For a long time, the failure of states to extend their criminal laws to their aircraft while they were outside national territory posed a serious problem. As long as an aircraft is flying in the national airspace of some state, the law of that state is applicable. When a crime has been committed during an international flight, however, there may be difficulty in pinpointing when and where it occurred and hence in determining the state the law of which has been violated. Unless the criminal law and jurisdiction of the state of registry have been extended to the aircraft during the period it is outside the state of registry, there may be none applicable; over the high seas, for example, there would clearly be a gap in the law. This, together with the realization that with the constant increase in air traffic the incidence of offenses on board aircraft was bound to rise, led to the conclusion in 1963 at Tokyo of the Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft, obliging the contracting states to extend their criminal law and jurisdiction to aircraft of their registry when they are outside national territory. The convention furthermore gives the aircraft commander power to ensure law and order on board his aircraft and to disembark any offender in any contracting state in which the aircraft lands.

Civil jurisdiction

In most countries the general civil law applies, except as modified. In the interest of avoiding statelessness, most states confer their nationality on those born on aircraft of their registry; but there is in air law no general principle of the law of the flag (i.e., the law of the state of registry) being applicable to every occurrence on board. There are, however, various international agreements that affect the exercise of civil jurisdiction by states. A few may be mentioned. The most important is doubtless Article 28 of the 1929 Warsaw Convention on International Carriage by Air, as subsequently modified by Article 8 of the 1961 Guadalajara Convention and amplified by Article 12 of the 1971 Guatemala City Protocol. Under Article 28, an action arising from an “international” carriage by air may be brought only before the courts of certain contracting states and no others. The 1933 Rome Convention on Precautionary Arrest of Aircraft, which has not been widely accepted, exempts aircraft actually used on government services or in commercial transport from precautionary attachment. In other cases, the giving of an adequate bond “shall prevent the precautionary attachment or give a right to immediate release.”

Among ICAO members, Article 27 of the Chicago Convention provides that, subject to certain conditions, aircraft of the contracting states on an international flight are exempt from seizure or detention on patent claims in the territory of other contracting states, without having to deposit a security. Under the 1952 Rome Convention on Surface Damage, in principle, actions may be brought only before the courts of the contracting state in which the damage occurred.

Piracy

The 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas intends to be declaratory of general international law when it defines the offense of piracy principally as

any illegal acts of violence, detention or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private [i.e., nongovernmental and not noncommercial] ship or a private aircraft, and directed: (a) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft; (b) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State.

The convention defines the effect of piracy under international law as follows:

On the high seas, or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any State, every State may seize a pirate ship or aircraft, or a ship taken by piracy and under the control of pirates, and arrest the persons and seize the property on board.

A state, having done so, may decide upon the penalties to be imposed and the fate of the ship, the aircraft, or the property. This definition of piracy deliberately excludes acts committed for political motives, as well as acts confined within a ship or aircraft, such as mutiny or the hijacking of an aircraft by its passengers or crew. Although some states, for example, the United States, have in their own laws categorized hijacking as aircraft piracy, this in itself is unable to bring about the consequences of piracy under international law.