This chapter discusses international law governing freedom of the high seas, jurisdiction over ships on the high seas, regimes of transit to and from the high seas, regulation of high seas fisheries, and the seabed and ocean floor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
Chapter
13. Maritime transit and the regime of the high seas
Chapter
8. The law of the sea
The law of the sea governs the relations of States in respect of the uses of the seas. It allocates competences between, on the one hand, coastal States wishing to extend their jurisdictional reach as far as possible and the flag States, on the other, wishing to have the seas open for vessels to navigate and for other uses. The chapter discusses the laws applicable to each maritime zone; namely, internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, the high seas, and the seabed. It also sets out the rules of maritime delimitation between States with opposite or adjacent coastlines.
Chapter
8. The international law of the sea
The international law of the sea is one of the oldest disciplines of public international law. In fact, the identification and application of principles for governing the roughly 70 per cent of the earth’s surface that consists of water has been a topic of interest for centuries. This chapter deals with the main principles and rules that make up the international legal regulation of the seas. It begins by discussing the most important legal sources in the law of the sea, including the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention. It then discusses the spatial partitioning of the sea and the different maritime zones that exist in the law of the sea; discusses piracy; and examines a number of selected issues relating to the conservation of marine life. The final section provides a short introduction to dispute settlement in the law of the sea.
