The Piracy Act 1717 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. Its long title was “An Act for the further preventing Robbery, Burglary, and other Felonies, and for the more effectual Transportation of Felons, and unlawful Exporters of Wool; and for declaring the Law upon some Points relating to Pirates.”
Not only dealing with pirates, the act established a seven-year banishment to North America as a possible punishment for those convicted of lesser felonies, or as a possible sentence that capital punishment might be commuted to by royal pardon. Transportation of criminals to North America continued until 1776, when the American War of Independence made it unfeasible to carry out the practice. After that, felons were sentenced to be punished with imprisonment or hard labour instead. It wasn’t until 1787 that convicted convicts were transported to Australia, continuing until 1868.
Furthermore, it allowed courts to prosecute at their discretion either under civil law (The Suppression of Piracy Act 1698) or common law (Offences at Sea Act 1536).…
Although not the most well-known pirate captain, Edward England was considered important enough to receive his own chapter in Charles Johnson’s 
William Dampier was an English adventurer and pirate who preyed on ships on the Spanish Main. Poor and ill-educated and determined to make his fortune, he nonetheless had a passion for exploration and scientific research. Not only a pirate, he was the first to map the winds and currents of the world’s oceans; lead the first recorded party of Englishmen to set foot on Australia – 80 years before Cook; write about Galapagos wildlife 150 years before Darwin, who drew on Dampier’s notes in his own work; was the first travel writer: His book, A NEW VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD, was an instant bestseller when it was published in 1697 and is said to have influenced the novels of Swift and Defoe. A man full of contradictions: he who achieved so much ‘blew it’ later in life, declining into scandal, failure and even farce.…
This act was passed during the reign of William III. The main purpose behind the statute was to make some corrections to the Offences at Sea Act 1536. These changes included allowing for acts of piracy to be “examined, inquired of, tried, heard and determined, and adjudged in any place at sea, or upon the land, in any of his Majesty’s islands, plantations, colonies, dominions, forts, or factories”. This enabled admirals to hold a court session to hear the trials of pirates in any place they deemed necessary, rather than requiring that the trial be held in England, thus avoiding the costly and time-consuming transport of captured pirates across the Atlantic. It also meant those accused of piracy didn’t necessarily have to be tried by a jury.