---
type: "LegalText"
title: "18 U.S.C. § 1651"
description: "Piracy under law of nations"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
chapter_number: "81"
chapter_name: "PIRACY AND PRIVATEERING"
section: "1651"
citation: "18 U.S.C. § 1651"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc18@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t18/s1651"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-18/usc18.xml"
source_hash: "6024b5d2b5ae434f1794a6fa21bd1104593d08258432e9e1a44a14550f583338"
raw_snapshot_hash: "1a1bbbbdb59e376ada4eb7ad1056fd68d396679ee7ab59f0561af15006122708"
text_hash: "0285b8c5de47f0ddd04706593bbcd92eea59a81fdc91cd57b5dbad7fd1d1541a"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 18 U.S.C. § 1651 - Piracy under law of nations

## Text

Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 774.)

## Notes

Historical and Revision NotesBased on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 481 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, § 290, 35 Stat. 1145).