South Africa And The Law Of The Sea

South Africa and the Law of the Sea brings together the many threads of the rich South African marine-law tapestry by covering both the public international law as context and the details of South African marine law and policy within their African framework.

Inaugural lecture delivered on 19 Mar 1986.

This book is the culmination of research collaboration between the Nelson Mandela University and the University of Johannesburg, and, in particular, between the South African Research Chair in the Law of the Sea and Development in Africa (housed at Nelson Mandela University) and the Centre for Banking Law (housed at the University of Johannesburg). The topics considered have their roots respectively in international law, environmental law, public law and international trade law. The common denominator is the sea.

This book is the culmination of research collaboration between the Nelson Mandela University and the University of Johannesburg, and, in particular, between the South African Research Chair in the Law of the Sea and Development in Africa (housed at Nelson Mandela University) and the Centre for Banking Law (housed at the University of Johannesburg). The topics considered have their roots respectively in international law, environmental law, public law and international trade law. The common denominator is the sea.

Antarctica & the Southern Ocean cover one-tenth of the earth's surface. In a legal & environmental sense, Antarctica represents the geography of hope. It is the freshest & most pristine of regions, governed by a legal regime that offers Antarctica & its circumpolar water the unique possibility of becoming the world's first global wilderness preserve. But in today's age of resource scarcity, Antarctica still provokes much political, economic & legal debate. Over the past decade, international attention has increasingly focused on the legal status of the continent, the potential for hydrocarbon exploitation offshore, & opportunities for harvesting circumpolar living marine resources. In this fascinating treatment, Christopher C. Joyner undertakes the first serious examination of the intimate relationship between Antarctica & the law of the sea. Using Antarctica as a case study, Joyner probes large conceptual issues of ocean law & politics. He uses the intricate details of oceanography & law to unravel the dynamics of the Antarctic Treaty System. In doing so, he examines how the changing importance of Antarctic issues has affected the development of the law of the sea for the region, the ways in which states define their national interests, & the accommodation through various negotations that have contributed to the development of law for governing the Southern Ocean. While the study of law for the Antarctic is provocative in itself, this work goes much farther. The study critically analyzes the region's biogeography, the condition of sovereignty on the continent, the lawfulness of asserting jurisdictional zones offshore, & various legal implications for Antarctica's continental shelf, local island groups, circumpolar deep seabed, & the Southern Ocean's high seas. Moreover, the special legal efforts by the international community to protect the Antarctic seas from marine pollution & to conserve its living marine resources are comprehensively appraised. Thorough, authoritative, & objectively reasoned, Antarctica & the Law of the Sea provides an insightful assessment of how law can progressively develop for a resource-rich region of the world's ocean. As such, it should appeal to a broad range of international lawyers & social scientists who are interested in international relations, political economy, environmental politics, & the law of the sea.