WEBVTT - What Laws Apply on a Cruise Ship?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here,

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<v Speaker 1>millions of people step onto a cruise ship each year

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<v Speaker 1>and leave the world behind. The laws of everyday reality

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<v Speaker 1>seem to not apply in these floating cities of swim

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<v Speaker 1>up bars, slot machines and far away ports of call.

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<v Speaker 1>And in a way it's true, the law of the

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<v Speaker 1>land doesn't quite make it to the high seas. This

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<v Speaker 1>is great news for a resident of a non gambling

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<v Speaker 1>state looking to get in some poker on vacation. But

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<v Speaker 1>what happens when crime occurs on a cruise ship? What

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<v Speaker 1>would happen to someone after they've stolen a wallet or

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<v Speaker 1>committed assault or murder on a cruise ship. About four

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<v Speaker 1>hundred people have gone missing from cruise ships in the

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<v Speaker 1>past twenty years, which works out to about twenty people

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<v Speaker 1>per year, which isn't much when you consider the tens

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<v Speaker 1>of millions of people who take cruises every year, But

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<v Speaker 1>of course, every life is precious, and it's a huge

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<v Speaker 1>number when you consider the difficulty even forcing the law

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<v Speaker 1>on the open seas. A very few of those cases

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<v Speaker 1>have been thoroughly investigated, but let alone solved. The problem

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<v Speaker 1>is that maritime law, the law that applies to people

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<v Speaker 1>when they're on the water, is famously convoluted. Not all

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<v Speaker 1>cruise ships are required to report crime statistics to any

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<v Speaker 1>governing body, so the question of who's supposed to investigate

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<v Speaker 1>when a crime does occur is a sticky one. International

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<v Speaker 1>maritime law requires that cruise ships take every possible measure

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<v Speaker 1>to provide safe passage, but every country has its own

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<v Speaker 1>version of maritime law, and when something goes wrong, jurisdiction

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<v Speaker 1>is difficult to sort out. A law on a cruise

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<v Speaker 1>ship or any other ship starts with the flag the

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<v Speaker 1>ship is flying under. A ship flies the flag of

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<v Speaker 1>the country where it's registered, and in general, the laws

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<v Speaker 1>on board a ship are the laws of that country. However,

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<v Speaker 1>when figuring out which laws apply to a sea vessel,

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<v Speaker 1>the territory that the vessel is currently in also must

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<v Speaker 1>be taken into consideration. A legal jurisdiction on the sea

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<v Speaker 1>goes something like this. Okay, first, you've got a country's

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<v Speaker 1>internal waters areas like bays and ports, which are part

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<v Speaker 1>of that country. So when a ship is docked at

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<v Speaker 1>the port of Miami, for example, all US and Florida

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<v Speaker 1>laws apply to the ship, its passengers, and its crew.

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<v Speaker 1>Almost all of the nation's laws also apply in its

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<v Speaker 1>territorial waters, which extend up to twelve miles from its coastline.

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<v Speaker 1>That's why a ship departing from a US port generally

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<v Speaker 1>can't open gambling activities until it's twelve miles out, since

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<v Speaker 1>gambling is illegal in most parts of the United States. Then,

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<v Speaker 1>a nation has limited jurisdiction in its contiguous zone, the

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<v Speaker 1>area twelve miles to twenty four miles from its coast.

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<v Speaker 1>A country has certain rights within that zone, such as

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<v Speaker 1>patrolling its borders. For instance, within twenty four miles of

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<v Speaker 1>the US coast, the US Coast Guard is allowed to

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<v Speaker 1>board any ship suspected of drug smuggling, regardless of which

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<v Speaker 1>flag flying under. But once a ship is twenty four

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<v Speaker 1>miles from any coastline, it's on the high seas or

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<v Speaker 1>international waters. With the exception of certain rights within the

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<v Speaker 1>contiguous zone, the law of that ship is the law

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<v Speaker 1>of the country whose flag it's flying. So a Liberia

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<v Speaker 1>registered cruise ship that's twenty five miles off the coast

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<v Speaker 1>of California isn't subject to US law, It's subject to

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<v Speaker 1>Liberian law. Lawsuits against a cruise line are different. Though

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<v Speaker 1>a while it might seem like a US citizen robbed

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<v Speaker 1>in US territorial waters off the coast of Los Angeles

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<v Speaker 1>could sue the cruise line in Los Angeles, it actually

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<v Speaker 1>depends on the cruise ship ticket's fine print. If the

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<v Speaker 1>ticket says the cruise line can only be sued in Seattle,

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<v Speaker 1>then a Los Angeles court will almost always refuse to

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<v Speaker 1>hear the case. This can all be bad news for

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<v Speaker 1>the victim of cruise ship crime, but for the millions

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<v Speaker 1>of people who take a cruise so they can engage

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<v Speaker 1>in all of the natured debauchery they want, the legal

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<v Speaker 1>freedom of the high seas is actually good news. After all,

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<v Speaker 1>if US law applies on a US registered ship, how

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<v Speaker 1>can that ship allow gambling. It's all about those international waters.

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<v Speaker 1>From the nineteen fifties to nineteen ninety a cruise ship

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<v Speaker 1>flying a U S flag had no gambling on board

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<v Speaker 1>a US law applied. End of story. The law changed

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<v Speaker 1>after the gambling ban left only three US registered ships

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<v Speaker 1>running the United States flag. Cruise ship competitive. This Act

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<v Speaker 1>of nineteen ninety one made it legal for a US

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<v Speaker 1>registered cruise ship to offer gambling once it made it

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<v Speaker 1>to international waters. Since then, the US cruis and stree

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<v Speaker 1>has been thriving. Aside from gambling, cruise ships typically offer

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<v Speaker 1>inclusive alcohol packages as part of the price of an

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<v Speaker 1>adult ticket. With the cruise ship staff determining whether someone

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<v Speaker 1>should be cut off, and considering that no one on

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<v Speaker 1>board is going to be driving home, few people are

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<v Speaker 1>cut off. However, This, along with railings capable of being climbed,

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<v Speaker 1>might account for a few of those cruise ship disappearances,

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<v Speaker 1>and this legal leniency could extend beyond gambling. But technically,

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<v Speaker 1>a cruise ship registered where cannabis use is legal could

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<v Speaker 1>allow passengers to smoke pot on board when it's in

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<v Speaker 1>international waters, although it would run the risk of charges

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<v Speaker 1>of illegal smuggling between countries. And when a baby is

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<v Speaker 1>born on a cruise ship, the question of citizenship arises.

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<v Speaker 1>This seldom happens, if ever, because cruise ships, like airlines,

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<v Speaker 1>typically refuse to let a pregnant person in their third

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<v Speaker 1>trimester on board. But still it's an interesting question, and

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<v Speaker 1>like all other cruise ship laws, there's no cut and

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<v Speaker 1>dried answer on a cruise ship. Like on a plane,

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<v Speaker 1>the simplest rule is that the baby's citizenship follows the parents.

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<v Speaker 1>So if a Canadian tourist gives birth on a ship,

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<v Speaker 1>the baby is Canadian. But of course it's not always

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<v Speaker 1>that simple. H Technically, if that Canadian gives birth in

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<v Speaker 1>un US territorial waters, US internal waters, or on a

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<v Speaker 1>US registered ship in international waters, the baby might be

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<v Speaker 1>able to claim US citizenship. The case would probably end

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<v Speaker 1>up in court. Most cruise ship related legal matters are

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<v Speaker 1>settled on a case by case basis. Today's episode is

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<v Speaker 1>based on the article if I'm on a cruise ship,

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<v Speaker 1>what loss do I have to adhere to? On how

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<v Speaker 1>stuffworks dot Com? Written by Julia Layton. Brainstuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com

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<v Speaker 1>and is produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my

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