Part One Overview of the Law of the Sea

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Part One Overview of the Law of the Sea

• International Law (sources, subjects)
• Evolution of ocean law
• Introduction to the Convention

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Evolution of ocean law

• Romans and the notion of res communis.
• 14th Century rise in pirate activities in
  Western Europe
• Saw conclusion of treaties such as the Treaty
  between King Henry VII of England and Archduke
  Philip of Austria of 24 February 1495. Treaty
  designed to eliminate piracy.

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Evolution of ocean law

• Trade and the monopoly of some States.
• Control of seas.
• Mare clausum Treaty of Tordesillas (mid 1494)
• Treaty assigned jurisdiction over large areas of
  ocean to Spain and Portugal.

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Evolution of ocean law

• Treaty continued.
• Spain given exclusive navigational rights to the
  Pacific, western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.
• Portugal awarded south Atlantic and Indian
  Oceans.
• Treaty first use of mare clausum concept.

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Evolution of ocean law

• Mare liberum written by Hugo Grotius published in
  1609.
• Support of freedom of seas and particularly the
  Dutch East India Company claim to trade in the
  Far East despite monopoly that the Portuguese had.

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Evolution of ocean law

• Territorial sovereignty
• Territorial sovereignty extends principally over
  land territory, the territorial sea appurtenant
  to the land, and the seabed and subsoil of the
  territorial sea. The concept of territory
  includes islands, islets, rocks and reefs.
  (Brownlie, 1998, p.105)

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Evolution of ocean law

• Freedom of the high seas
• Mare liberum (Hugo Grotius, 1609)
• Mare clausum

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Evolution of ocean law

• Attempts at codification
• First international conference at The Hague 1930.
  No agreement on breadth of TS.
• UNCLOS I in 1958 a success. 86 States
  participated.

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Evolution of ocean law

• Four Conventions adopted at 1958 Conference
• Convention on TS and CZ (EIF 10/9/64)
• Convention on High Seas (EIF 30/9/62)
• Convention on CS (EIF 10/6/64)
• Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living
  Resources of the HS (EIF 20/3/66)

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Evolution of ocean law

• First 3 Conventions ratified by large number of
  States.
• Convention on Fishing less popular.
• Breadth of the TS still not resolved.
• So, another conference was convened in 1960
  (UNCLOS II).

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS II failed to agree on breadth of TS.
• Failed by one vote to adopt a six-mile TS plus 6
  mile fishery zone.
• No agreement on breadth of TS until UNCLOS III
  negotiated between 1973 and 1982.

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS III
• First session of UNCLOS III held in 1973
• Negotiations by consensus continued for several
  months each year until the convention was adopted
  in 1982.

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS III
• Three main Committees.
• Committee One dealt with the problem of the legal
  regime of the deep sea bed.
• Committee Two addressed the regimes of the TS and
  CZ, the CS, EEZ, the high seas, and fishing and
  conservation of the living resources of the high
  seas as well as the question of straits and
  archipelagic States.

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS III
• Committee Three covered the questions of the
  preservation of the marine environment and
  scientific research.

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS III
• Consensus approach
• Early agreement on extent of TS, legal regimes of
  TS, CZ, CS, EEZ and HS.
• Also regulation of scientific research and marine
  pollution.

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS III
• Agreed issues incorporated into national
  legislation.
• Became part of customary international law even
  before UNCLOS III came into force.
• When did UNCLOS III enter into force?

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS III
• Final text of Convention adopted 30 April 1982 by
  130 votes to 4 with 17 abstentions.
• Despite adoption, outstanding issue was the legal
  regime of the deep sea bed.
• This issue delayed the adoption of the final text.

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS III
• Part XI is an exceptionally precise, detailed
  instrument closer in appearance to a commercial
  contract or concession than to an international
  treaty.

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS III
• States could not accept its details and this is
  the main cause of the many negative votes and
  abstentions at adoption.

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Evolution of ocean law

• UNCLOS III
• On 10 December 1982, the Convention was opened
  for signature at Montego Bay in Jamaica by States
  and international organisations. At the end of
  the two year period that the Convention was open
  for signature, 159 States and other entities had
  signed.

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