The phenomenon of a pirate radio station operating from a ship strategically anchored on the high seas is graphic testimony to man's irrepressible ingenuity as well as to the truism that a legal norm can never anticipate every possible contingency.
The circumstances are remarkable in that in order to evade the prohibitions of a municipal legal system, individuals have sought shelter under the protective umbrella of international law, confident that the states concerned, particularly the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, would acknowledge the inviolability of their activities.