The Oxford Handbook of the Law of the Sea

Recent maritime disputes, environmental disasters, and piracy have raised the profile of the law of the sea. This Oxford Handbook brings together high-level analysis of all of its key aspects, examining the role of particular regions in the development of the law of the sea, management of the oceans' resources, and critical contemporary debates.

Human activities have taken place in the world's oceans and seas for most of human history. With such a vast number of ways in which the oceans can be used for trade, exploited for natural resources and fishing, as well as concerns over maritime security, the legal systems regulating the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans have long been a crucial part of international law. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea comprehensively defined the parameters of the law of the sea in 1982, and since the Convention was concluded it has seen considerable development. This Oxford Handbook provides a comprehensive and original analysis of its current debates and controversies, both theoretical and practical. Written by over forty expert and interdisciplinary contributors, the Handbook sets out how the law of the sea has developed, and the challenges it is currently facing. The Handbook consists of forty chapters divided into six parts. First, it explains the origins and evolution of the law of the sea, with a particular focus upon the role of key publicists such as Hugo Grotius and John Selden, the gradual development of state practice, and the creation of the 1982 UN Convention. It then reviews the components which comprise the maritime domain, assessing their definition, assertion, and recognition. It also analyses the ways in which coastal states or the international community can assert control over areas of the sea, and the management and regulation of each of the maritime zones. This includes investigating the development of the mechanisms for maritime boundary delimitation, and the decisions of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The Handbook also discusses the actors and intuitions that impact on the law of the sea, considering their particular rights and interests, in particular those of state actors and the principle law of the sea institutions. Then it focuses on operational issues, investigating longstanding matters of resource management and the integrated oceans framework. This includes a discussion and assessment of the broad and increasingly influential integrated oceans management governance framework that interacts with the traditional law of the sea. It considers six distinctive regions that have been pivotal to the development of the law of the sea, before finally providing a detailed analysis of the critical contemporary issues facing the law of the sea. These include threatened species, climate change, bioprospecting, and piracy. The Handbook will be an invaluable and thought-provoking resource for scholars, students, and practitioners of the law of the sea.

1 - Historical Development of the Law of the Sea
2 - The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
3 - Between Stability and Change in the Law of the Sea Convention: Subsequent Practice, Treaty Modification, and Regime Interaction
4 - Baselines
5 - The Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone
6 - International Straits
7 - The Archipelagic Regime
8 - The Exclusive Economic Zone
9 - The Continental Shelf
10 - The High Seas
11 - The Deep Seabed
12 - Maritime Boundary Delimitation
13 - Port and Coastal States
14 - Flag States
15 - Landlocked and Geographically Disadvantaged States
16 - The United Nations: A Practitioner's Perspective
17 - Law of the Sea Convention Institutions
18 - Courts and Tribunals: The ICJ, ITLOS, and Arbitral Tribunals
19 - The International Maritime Organization
20 - Regional Fisheries Management Organisations
21 - Integrated Oceans Management: A New Frontier in Marine Environmental Protection
22 - Marine Living Resources
23 - Science and the International Regulation of Marine Pollution
24 - Navigational Rights and Freedoms
25 - Marine Scientific Research
26 - Maritime Security
27 - The Mediterranean Sea
28 - The South China Sea
29 - North-East Atlantic and the North Sea
30 - The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico
31 - The Indian Ocean and the Law of the Sea: A Work in Progress
32 - Polar Oceans and Law of the Sea
33 - Conserving Marine Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Co-Evolution and Interaction with the Law of the Sea
34 - Warming Waters and Souring Seas: Climate Change and Ocean Acidification
35 - Threatened Species and Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems
36 - Marine Bioprospecting
37 - Piracy
38 - Military Operations
39 - Charting the Future for the Law of the Sea

Donald R. Rothwell is Professor of International Law at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University, Australia where he has taught since 2006, and was previously Challis Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney (2004-2006). His research areas include the law of the sea, the law of the polar regions, international security law, and international law in Australia. He is author, co-author and editor of 16 books. Alex G. Oude Elferink is Deputy Director of the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea at the School of Law, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. His research interests include the law of the sea, the law of the polar regions, and the relationship between international law and international relations. Karen N. Scott is a Professor of Law at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Her research interests include Antarctic law and policy, the law of the sea and international environmental law. She is the editor of the New Zealand Yearbook of International Law and a member of the Advisory Board to Gateway Antarctica at the University of Canterbury. Tim Stephens is Professor of International Law and Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, Australia. He is President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law.