International waters questions?

Question

What laws are there in international waters? I though that there were none, but what keeps people from taking someone out to sea and killing them? So there has to be some basic law out there that all or most countries agree on.

And what about cruise ships? They sail into international waters, don't they? Are they like little bits of the country of origin or something, or do they have their own laws?

Any answers would help.

Answer 1

Technically a ship in international waters is still under the jurisdiction of the country in which it is registered. Your 'little bits of the country of origin' line is not far from accurate.

As for 'what keeps people from taking someone out to sea and killing them?' Many jurisdictions will punish a crime if ANY element of the crime is committed in the jurisdiction. In the case you describe, the jurisdiction the took the person FROM would argue they have jurisdiction.

There are also basic 'laws' agreed to by most countries. Technically, 'International Law' is an oxymoron, but is everyone agrees, it may as well be law.