United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Straits are peripheral formations in the study of geography, but have long been a source of controversy in international relations. They connect separate seas and divide the territory of states. This geographical fact invites legal disputes over international boundary drawing, request for passage by foreign ships, assertion of territorial control over the waters forming straits, and the basis for a regime generally accepted as law in our times. This is a thorough and well-documented book which combines elements of history, geography, international shipping, and the law of the sea. It asks the central question: what exactly is the current law governing this area, and also goes on to consider the concept of international straits, the distinction between existing treaty-based regimes and the general regime, and the special characteristics of straits that separate them from similar arms of the sea in terms of law. In answering these questions, the author takes us back to the first regime for international straits in 1949, through to the practices of the present day. This will be an invaluable text for all international lawyers, particularly those specializing in the law of sea.

This book seeks to place contemporary problems of ocean use management in historical context beginning with the time of Hugo Grotius, whose seminal 1609 work The Freedom of the Seas was the basis of ocean law for the next three centuries.

This comprehensive handbook provides background information and analysis on the full range of contemporary ocean use issues. Coverage includes the development of ocean law, the evolving uses of oceans, data on living and non-living ocean resources, the environmental impact of pollution, and competing national claims over ocean exploration. The volume also summarizes the must current research available on the uses of oceans, incorporates the salient portions of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention in the topical surveys and analyses presented, and discusses all of the other major international conventions that have dealt with global ocean or marine affairs.