law of the sea

Chanderprabhu Jain College of Higher Studies & School of LawPlot No. OCF, Sector A-8, Narela, New Delhi – 110040

(Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Approved by Govt of NCT of Delhi & Bar Council of India)

Law of the SeaPaper ID:- 038304

BA LLB 6th Sem. (Sec. C).

By: Abhishek Kumar AP,Law



Law of the sea convention

• Law of the Sea Conventions, 1958 - Covention on the Territorial Sea and the

Contigious Zone- Convention on the High Seas- Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas

• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982



• Internal Waters• Territorial Sea• Contiguous Zone• Exclusive Economic Zone• Continental Shelf• High Seas• The International Seabed

Jurisdictional Zones in the Law of the Sea



Constructing Baselines•The Normal Rule

the normal baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea is the low-water line along the coast as shown by the appropriate symmbols on charts officialy recognized by the coastal state‘ (LOSC Art. 5)

General Rule: coastal stages exercise the greatest degree of jurisdictional competence over those zones that lie closest to them

•Straight BaselinesDrawn not from the low water line but from a series of artificial lines



Jurisdictional Zones II

• Internal Waters– flows automatically from sovereignty exercised over

land territory• Territorial Sea (up to 12 sea miles)– full sovereignty except for rights of innocent passage

• Contiguous Zone (up to 24 sea miles)– territory outside the territorial sea where coastal states

may exercise the control necessary to punish or prevent infringements of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulation within its territory or territorial sea



Navigation•Internal Waters

Exclusive Right of Coastal State to define rights for navigation•Territorial Sea

Right for innocent passage of foreign ships; Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal state (Art. 19 LOSC)•Exclusive Economic Zone

freedom of navigation (Art. 58 (1), Art. 87 LOSC)



Archipelago

A State ‘constituted wholly by one or more archipelagoes and other islands, where an archipelago is itself defined as a group of islands or parts of islands, and their interconnection waters which are so closely interconnected as to form, or to be regarded as forming an intrinsic entity



Other conditions for an archipelago

•Must link main islands of the group

•Must follow general configuration of the island grouping

•Most important: ratio of water to land within the baselines must be not less than 1:1 and not more than 9:1



Right of transit passage in straits used for international navigation

applies generally to all straits connecting high seas or EEZs with other areas of high seas or EEZs which are used for international navigation (Art. 37 LOSC)Ships shall proceed without delay refrain from any force or threat of force against the coast state pass the strait in the normal mode of continuous and expeditious transit (Art. 39 LOSC)



High Seas

Waters beyond territorial sea which is free for use by all Flag State jurisdictionExceptions to the flag state jurisdiction

• Visit• Piracy • Hot pursuit• Broadcasting• Slavery• Drugs trafficking



BaysTwo stage definition:

Stage 1: distance between the ‘natural entrance points’ of a bay is measured and a semi-circle is drawn along a line of a that length. The area of the semi-circle is then compared to the area of water found landward. If the are of the semi-circle is less than that of the area of water, than it is a bay.Stage 2: If the distance between the entrance points is less than 24 miles, it may be drawn between them. Otherwise, the closing line can be drawn ‘within the bay in such a manner as to enclose the maximum area of water that is possible with a line of that length.

law of the sea

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