What Laws Apply on a Cruise Ship?

what happens when crime occurs on a cruise ship? What would happen to someone after they've stolen a wallet or

committed assault or murder on a cruise ship. About four hundred people have gone missing from cruise ships in the past twenty years, which works out to about twenty people per year, which isn't much when you consider the tens of millions of people who take cruises every year, But of course, every life is precious, and it's a huge number when you consider the difficulty even forcing the law on the open seas. A very few of those cases

have been thoroughly investigated, but let alone solved. The problem is that maritime law, the law that applies to people when they're on the water, is famously convoluted. Not all cruise ships are required to report crime statistics to any governing body, so the question of who's supposed to investigate

when a crime does occur is a sticky one. International maritime law requires that cruise ships take every possible measure to provide safe passage, but every country has its own version of maritime law, and when something goes wrong, jurisdiction is difficult to sort out. A law on a cruise ship or any other ship starts with the flag the ship is flying under. A ship flies the flag of the country where it's registered, and in general, the laws

on board a ship are the laws of that country. However, when figuring out which laws apply to a sea vessel, the territory that the vessel is currently in also must be taken into consideration. A legal jurisdiction on the sea goes something like this. Okay, first, you've got a country's internal waters areas like bays and ports, which are part of that country. So when a ship is docked at the port of Miami, for example, all US and Florida laws apply to the ship, its passengers, and its crew.

Almost all of the nation's laws also apply in its territorial waters, which extend up to twelve miles from its coastline. That's why a ship departing from a US port generally can't open gambling activities until it's twelve miles out, since gambling is illegal in most parts of the United States. Then, a nation has limited jurisdiction in its contiguous zone, the area twelve miles to twenty four miles from its coast. A country has certain rights within that zone, such as

patrolling its borders. For instance, within twenty four miles of the US coast, the US Coast Guard is allowed to board any ship suspected of drug smuggling, regardless of which flag flying under. But once a ship is twenty four miles from any coastline, it's on the high seas or international waters. With the exception of certain rights within the contiguous zone, the law of that ship is the law

of the country whose flag it's flying. So a Liberia registered cruise ship that's twenty five miles off the coast of California isn't subject to US law, It's subject to Liberian law. Lawsuits against a cruise line are different. Though a while it might seem like a US citizen robbed in US territorial waters off the coast of Los Angeles could sue the cruise line in Los Angeles, it actually

depends on the cruise ship ticket's fine print. If the ticket says the cruise line can only be sued in Seattle, then a Los Angeles court will almost always refuse to hear the case. This can all be bad news for the victim of cruise ship crime, but for the millions of people who take a cruise so they can engage in all of the natured debauchery they want, the legal freedom of the high seas is actually good news. After all, if US law applies on a US registered ship, how

can that ship allow gambling. It's all about those international waters. From the nineteen fifties to nineteen ninety a cruise ship flying a U S flag had no gambling on board a US law applied. End of story. The law changed after the gambling ban left only three US registered ships running the United States flag. Cruise ship competitive. This Act of nineteen ninety one made it legal for a US registered cruise ship to offer gambling once it made it

to international waters. Since then, the US cruis and stree has been thriving. Aside from gambling, cruise ships typically offer inclusive alcohol packages as part of the price of an adult ticket. With the cruise ship staff determining whether someone should be cut off, and considering that no one on board is going to be driving home, few people are cut off. However, This, along with railings capable of being climbed, might account for a few of those cruise ship disappearances,

and this legal leniency could extend beyond gambling. But technically, a cruise ship registered where cannabis use is legal could allow passengers to smoke pot on board when it's in international waters, although it would run the risk of charges of illegal smuggling between countries. And when a baby is born on a cruise ship, the question of citizenship arises. This seldom happens, if ever, because cruise ships, like airlines, typically refuse to let a pregnant person in their third

trimester on board. But still it's an interesting question, and like all other cruise ship laws, there's no cut and dried answer on a cruise ship. Like on a plane, the simplest rule is that the baby's citizenship follows the parents. So if a Canadian tourist gives birth on a ship, the baby is Canadian. But of course it's not always

that simple. H Technically, if that Canadian gives birth in un US territorial waters, US internal waters, or on a US registered ship in international waters, the baby might be able to claim US citizenship. The case would probably end up in court. Most cruise ship related legal matters are settled on a case by case basis. Today's episode is based on the article if I'm on a cruise ship, what loss do I have to adhere to? On how

stuffworks dot Com? Written by Julia Layton. Brainstuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,