The Regime Of Straits In International Law

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 forpassage 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. Itasks 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 similararms 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 ofsea.

An account of the legal regime of straits and the allocation of rights and duties relating to transit passage.

The four 1958 Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea, which codi?ed and progressively developed this sector of our legislation, were rather ephemeral despite the fact that they were constituent Conventions. In fact, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) again undertook the same task with the same spirit 20 years later after a long drawn out global negotiation process in which all the marine areas and problems pending were analysed and discussed by the countries attending, and an apparently strengthened majority was attained, including the essential agreement between the principal naval powers and the third world countries, symbolised most grossly in the recognition of exclusive economic areas which were 200 miles wide in exchange for a signi?cant alteration to the legal rules applicable to the international straits. From 1973 to 1982, the negotiations showed that there were a number of particular factors affecting the seas: “strait” countries, user countries, long range ?shing countries, embedded countries, archipelagic countries, broad platform countries, etc. In 1982 when the UNCLOS was adopted, it seemed to be a text with justi?ed pretensions to be in force for a long period of time as the nine years of negotiations required for its adoption had taken into account the main problems pending agreement although not absolutely all.

The importance of straits, particularly those used in international navigation, has been long recognized in international law. One of the important debates during the Third United Nations Law of the Sea Conference concerned the regime of passage through straits used in international navigation. The result was the creation of a multi-tiered legal framework of passage that included the entirely a new “transit passage” regime. Although over thirty years have passed since the adoption of the 1982 United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, the vital role played by straits in the global communications network continues to be surrounded by conflicts between the interests of coastal states and shipping. Challenges still exist to achieving the simultaneous global goals of secure passage of vessels and protection of the marine environment. In Navigating Straits: Challenges for International Law, internationally recognized international law scholars provide in-depth analysis of the legal challenges in straits concerning security, piracy, safety and environmental protection. All readers interested in international and law of the sea will find this seminal volume of interest.

In The Estonian Straits Alexander Lott establishes the interrelations between the main legal categories of straits and provides legal classifications for the Viro Strait, the Irbe Strait and the Sea of Straits in the north-eastern part of the Baltic Sea.

Now in a third, revised edition, Excessive Maritime Claims by J. Ashley Roach and Robert W. Smith is designed for law of the sea and maritime law specialists. The book draws on published governmental material in the public domain, specifically the U.S., and addresses recent progress in maritime security, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by sea, piracy, and protection of underwater cultural heritage. As a result of significant developments in the law of the sea, primarily with reference to the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, Excessive Maritime Claims provides up to date coverage of current affairs as well as introduce new topics such as: submarine cables, polar areas, environmental protection, sovereign immunity and sunken ships, and maritime law enforcement.

This is the thirteenth book in the series International Straits of the World initiated and edited at the Graduate College of Marine Studies of the University of Delaware. In 1987 the ninth book in this series dealt with the Turkish Straits. Since then, however, the rapid developments of the law of the sea, especially with regard to coastal state jurisdiction and the status of international straits, has called for a new analysis of the heavily-trafficked, narrow waterway that links the Mediterranean Sea with the Black Sea. The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea provided a special regime for straits used for international navigation. [...Nothing in this part of the convention, however, affected the legal regime of the Turkish Straits. The convention exempted those straits in which passage was regulated in whole or in part by long-standing international conventions specifically related to that strait. The Montreux Convention of 1936, still in force, was designed to regulate passage through the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus - or the Turkish Straits. Dr. Ünlü has addressed a key international policy question, namely, in the light of the evolving law of the sea and the special role of the International Maritime Organization, should the 1936 Montreux Convention be amended or denounced - or changed by some unilateral act of Turkey.[...] In sum, can the convention be sustained as it is, modified by unilateral action, denounced by the parties, or its provisions changed in some other way by international action? The author has even explored the possibility of making the straits a particularly sensitive sea area, allowing the coastal state to take expanded jurisdiction to prevent marine pollution. Dr. Ünlü has done a great service to scholarship on the legal regime of the Turkish Straits. She has left her readers with policy options that will be useful in trying to reconcile the use of a strait not covered by the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention with the exigencies of modern international law.

This is the thirteenth book in the series International Straits of the World initiated and edited at the Graduate College of Marine Studies of the University of Delaware. In 1987 the ninth book in this series dealt with the Turkish Straits. Since then, however, the rapid developments of the law of the sea, especially with regard to coastal state jurisdiction and the status of international straits, has called for a new analysis of the heavily-trafficked, narrow waterway that links the Mediterranean Sea with the Black Sea. The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea provided a special regime for straits used for international navigation. [...Nothing in this part of the convention, however, affected the legal regime of the Turkish Straits. The convention exempted those straits in which passage was regulated in whole or in part by long-standing international conventions specifically related to that strait. The Montreux Convention of 1936, still in force, was designed to regulate passage through the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus - or the Turkish Straits. Dr. Ünlü has addressed a key international policy question, namely, in the light of the evolving law of the sea and the special role of the International Maritime Organization, should the 1936 Montreux Convention be amended or denounced - or changed by some unilateral act of Turkey.[...] In sum, can the convention be sustained as it is, modified by unilateral action, denounced by the parties, or its provisions changed in some other way by international action? The author has even explored the possibility of making the straits a particularly sensitive sea area, allowing the coastal state to take expanded jurisdiction to prevent marine pollution. Dr. Ünlü has done a great service to scholarship on the legal regime of the Turkish Straits. She has left her readers with policy options that will be useful in trying to reconcile the use of a strait not covered by the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention with the exigencies of modern international law.