This article investigates the internal governance institutions of violent
criminal enterprise by examining the law, economics, and organization
of pirates. To effectively organize their banditry, pirates required
mechanisms to prevent internal predation, minimize crew conflict,
and maximize piratical profit. Pirates devised two institutions for this
purpose. First, I analyze the system of piratical checks and balances
crews used to constrain captain predation. Second, I examine how
pirates used democratic constitutions to minimize conflict and create
piratical law and order. Pirate governance created sufficient order and
cooperation to make pirates one of the most sophisticated and successful
criminal organizations in history.

An-arrgh-chy: The Law and Economics of Pirate Organization