CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH BIHAR

DEPARTMENT OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE

PROJECT ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION ON: -

LAW OF THE SEA (ANALYSIS OF THE CONTEMPORARY CONFLICT)

SUBMITTED TO: - Dr. KUMARI NITU

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, SCHOOL OF LAW & GOVERNANCE, CUSB, GAYA

Submitted by: - MANISH KUMAR

Subject: - PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW
Enrollment no: - CUSB2213125047
Section: - A

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is a great pleasure to express my deep sense of thanks and gratitude to my course instructor
and guide Dr. KUMARI NITU. Her dedication and keen interest above all and her
overwhelming attitude to help her student had been solely and mainly responsible or
completing my work. Her scholarly and timely advice,
Meticulous scrutiny, and her logical approach has helped me to a very great exert to accomplish
my project in an excellent manner.
I owe a deep sense of gratitude to Prof. S.P. SRIVASTAVA Dean of school of law and
governance, cusb for making sure that we are provided with best facilities and surrounding to
fetch the best of ourselves,
His prompt inspiration, timely suggestion with the kindness, enthusiasm and dynamism has
also enable me to complete my project on time. It is my privilege to thanks my parents for their
constant encuragment throughout my research period.

@MANISH KUMAR.

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

S. No Title Page no

01. INTRODUCTION 04

02. CODIFICATIONS OF THE LAW OF SEA 05

03. WHAT DOES UNCLOS STANDS FOR 05

04. THE ROLE OF THIS CONVENTION 06

05. WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE CONVENTION 06-07

06. TERRITORIAL RULES WITH REGARD TO THE LAW OF THE SEA 07

07. INDIAS POSITION ON TERRITORIAL WATERS 08

08. THE SOUTH CHINA CASE DISPUTE 08-09

09. INDIA POSITION ON CONTIGUOUS ZONE 10

10. CONTINENTAL SHELF 10

11. INDIAS POSITION ON CONTINENTAL SHELF 10

12. EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE 10

13. INDIA’S POSITION ON EEZ 11

14. HIGH SEA 11

15. FLAG STATE RULE 11

16. CONCLUSION 12

17. BIBLIOGRAPHY 13

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 INTRODUCTION

When the word sea comes what strike in mind first is that Shipping and fishing are the main
areas of the sea. Well discussing further depending on human development, there were many
cases of the use of technology, and sometimes they attempted to satisfy the needs of human
beings, also there are many other resources and minerals like for example natural gas, oil, sand
and gravel, diamonds, gold and other resources were also made from the seabed. With time
things got advanced and with the development of trade in the 20th century and the inexhaustible
realization of the use of the sea, the classic principle of that was “the Freedom of the Sea ” was
pushed into the background. Sir juror hugo Grotius and a dutch philosopher in their book called
the freedom of the seas written about the basis for the international law of the seas. It
established that each and every country could customarily lay claim to ocean up to three miles
off their coast, and rest of the worlds ocean should be left without any claims by any nation
and thus most resources of maritime were essentially accesable to all. In simple words if we
say so the other nations fleets can come near to anopthers coast and can take resources such as
fish etc, also the many nations dump their waste into the area of the other nation. Just like we
do not want polluted environment and surroundings same do coastal countries do not want their
sea areas to be polluted and dirty. As things were progressing and advancing it was causing
more trouble to the resources of the coastal countries and also the disputes keep on rising. To
settle this and also concerns regarding the traditional three miles claim to offshore sea each
nation had, the united nations worked hard for 14 years with more than 150 countries in whole
world to commission the united nation convention on the law of the sea. This convention
produced sets of international laws which to be obeyed by every country in the world and that
seeks to maintain international order and enforcement of rules at the sea. Under the new laws
state with coastlines now have sovereignty, the territorial sovereignty over the breath of sea up
to 12 nautical miles away from their coast, like all coastal nations wanted and demanded.

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Codification of the Law of the sea: -

It is the branch of international law concerned with public order at sea. Much of this law is
codified in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed Dec. 10, 1982. The
convention, described as a “constitution for the oceans,” represents an attempt to codify
international law regarding territorial waters, sea-lanes, and ocean resources. It came into force
in 1994 after it had been ratified by the requisite 60 countries; by the early 21st century the
convention had been ratified by more than 150 countries. After 1945, once the UN was set up,
it was decided by the UN security council and the Secretariat that there was a need to codify
existing rules especially with regards to the Law of the seas and to come out with permanent
solution vis-a-vis the maritime territorial limit of any country.1

With this view, the UNCLOS was passed, which codified the existing customary rules, and it
came into force in 1999, even though the agreement was signed in 1982.

Since 1945, almost all the countries of the World have replaced the “cannon-shot rule” with 12
nautical miles rule under which an area of 12 nautical miles from a country sea coast is
presumed to be the exclusive maritime limit of one country, and these rules are also
acknowledged and accepted under the UNCLOS rules and regulations.

A classified example of maritime disputes, existed between India and Sri Lanka, commonly
known as the Ram Setu Bridge, connecting Dhanushkodi in India to Talaimannar in Sri Lanka.

India’s position in relation to the law of the sea is generally governed by Article 297 of the
Constitution of India, and the Territorial Water, Continental Shelf, EEZ and other Maritime
Zones Acts. The Maritime Zones Act proclaims the sovereignty of India over the territorial
waters of India and the seabed and sub-soil underlying and the airspace over such water. The
limit of the territorial is the line every point of which is at a distance of 12 nautical miles from
the nearest point of the appropriate baseline.

All foreign ships are given the right of innocent passage through the territorial water.2

1
UN Convention on law of the seas, available at: https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/uncls/uncls
2
P. Hoagland, M.E. Schumacher, “Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences (Second Edition)”, 2001

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What does the UNCLOS stands for ?

UNCLOS stands for the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea. Well known as the
Law of the Sea. This is an international agreement or treaty that establishes rules and guidelines
for using the world’s all waterbodies like oceans and seas, so as to use and conserve marine
resources and to secure the preservation and protection of all the living beings of the sea. The
treaty was signed on 10 December 1982 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, as a result of the United
Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which took place from 1973 to 1982, and came into
force in 1994.3

The Role of this convention: -

The convention defines several maritime zones. Namely the baseline, the territorial waters, the
contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf, the International seabed
area. The exclusive economic zone is international water, which can be accessed and used by
each country for economic purposes. It is currently the dominant law of the sea. There is no
limit or boundary set for commercial or marine business in these International waters.

What is the history of this convention?

Several countries have expressed a desire to expand national maritime information, use natural
resources, protect fish stocks and reduce pollution. For this purpose, the League of Nations
held a conference at The Hague in 1930 but failed to reach an agreement. In the 20th century,
technological development in fisheries and oil production have increased the maritime scope
in which countries can find and use natural resources.

This motivated the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, in 1945 to increase the
U.S. jurisdiction outside of all of its continental shelf natural resources, far beyond the
Country’s territorial waters.

Grotius’s concept “Freedom of the Sea” became practically universal in the 20th century due
to the global dominance of European navies. National rights and jurisdiction over oceans are

3
UNCLOS, available at: www.curtis.com/glossary/public-international-law/unclos

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limited to certain water belts that stretch from the Country’s coast, usually 3 miles (5.6km),
according to Bynkershoek’s “cannon fire” rules. According to the maxim “Mare Liberum” all
water outside the Country’s border is considered as the International waters which is free for
all countries, but not for anyone.

Responding to British lawyer Grotius, John Seldon argued in a saying called “Mare Clausum”
that the sea was able to seize sovereign power like land and territory. Seldon rejected Grotius’s
assumptions, arguing that there was no historical system for treating the sea differently from
the mainland, and there was nothing inherent in the nature of the sea that prevented the State
from controlling its parts. Basically, International Law can frame the National jurisdiction that
appears above the sea.

Territorial rules with regard to the law of the sea: -

Under Customary International Laws, the Law of the seas were not codified only because of
the fact that at that time the ocean was considered as an important maritime property, through
which countries could claim their sovereignty, open up new trading rules and also capture new
territories with the help of either trading companies or powerful navels. Nevertheless, by the
17th century, a Customary International Law started evolving amongst countries, which
categorically laid down the fact that a country’s territorial limit from the coastal sea shall be
limited to 3 nautical miles, under which the Country shall exercise absolute jurisdiction and no
foreign vessels or ships will be allowed within that territory, except for certain restricted
conditions. This 3-mile rule was known as the “cannon-shot rule” and the restrictions given for
foreign ships to enter into the territorial waters at a host was known as the “Doctrine of innocent
passage” and if a foreign vessel was exercising to the innocent passage, then no conditions
were allowed to run any over or over operations against the territorial integrity of the host
State.4

4
Law of the Seas, available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Law-of-the-Sea

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India’s position on territorial waters: -

India’s position in relation to the Law of the sea is generally governed by Article 297 of the
Indian constitution and laws on waters, continental shelf, EEZ and other maritime zones.
Maritime zone Law defines Indian sovereignty over the waters and the seabed, as well as the
land and airspace above those waters. An area of the boundary line is where each point is 12
nautical miles from the closet point to the baseline. All foreign vessels have the right pass that
is innocent passage through territorial waters.

Case dispute:

The South China dispute

Facts: - 5000 years ago, China was governed by the Ming dynasty, who were also famous as
Terracotta warriors.

In a navel map, at the times of the Ming period, the entire region, boarding the south China sea
along the coast of Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines were shown to be Chinese territory.
5

In the present times, the Chinese government has claimed these areas under the South China
sea, coming within the territorial waters of many southeast Asian Nations as its own territory.

The Chinese called this new boundary as the (nine-dash line) territory.

In 1988, the Imperial Chinese navy with the support of the Chinese air force repeatedly intruded
into the territory of water of the Philippines and started the construction of artificial islands
called the Spratly and johnson group of islands.

The Philippine government strongly protested this movement on the grounds that the disputed
territory was within the maritime limit of Philippine sea waters and China had violated the
territorial sovereignty of Philippine.

Repeated requests were made by the Philippino government to the Chinese authority to stop
construction in the disputed territories, but it was openly ignored by the communist party of
China and since1988, the Chinese government has built a series of smaller artificial islands,

5
What is South China Sea dispute, available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13748349

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military installations, air force and naval bases to further strengthen the Spratly and Johnson
islands.

In 2015, the Philippino government approached the PCA (Permanent Court of Arbitration) to
resolve the South China Sea dispute, where the Chinese government did not appear before the
PCA. The PCA categorically held that (nine-dash line) theory of China was grossly inaccurate,
construction of Spratly and Johnson islands were illegal, China had violated almost all its treaty
and obligations, which are coming under UNCLOS and violation of Customary International
Law and more specifically in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

After Judgement: -

China refused to agree to the decision. After the decision of the PCA, the Chinese navy started
building large seaports in the Spratly harbour, so that Chinese naval aircraft carrier fighter
squadrons of the Chinese air force can be permanently posted in the Spratly armed forces base.

Since 2016, China has started building more islands in the territorial waters of even Vietnam,
Indonesia and Malaysia and is now claiming that the nine-dash rule is actually correct and they
would actually keep on building more islands in the south China sea.

Contiguous Zone: -

The contiguous zone is the part of the sea that is outside and adjacent to the territorial waters
of a coastal country. This is not the object of a subsidiary, but in this coastal country, they can
exercise certain jurisdictional rights. The concept of an adjacent zone develops because
countries cannot effectively protect all their interests because of the limited interference on the
territorial sea. The 1982 convention established the concept of an exclusive economic zone
(EEZ) which fully covers the contiguous zones.

According to Article 33 of the 1982 Convention, Contiguous zone must not be more than 24
nautical miles from the baseline where the territorial sea area is measured. Thus the area of the
contiguous area is 12 miles from the territorial sea.6

6
Contiguous zone, available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/contiguous-zone

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India’s position on contiguous zone: -

India has claimed the contiguous zone to the extent of 24 nautical miles by enacting the
Maritime Zones Act of 1976.

Continental Shelf: -

According to W.Friedman, the continental shelf can be defined as the zone around the continent
that extends from a low water line to depth and usually marked towards greater depth. What is
commonly referred to as a “continental shelf” is a sloping platform that covers continents and
islands? This is a submerged seabed that borders continental landmass and is found as an
extension or part of that land. It usually extends to a depth of about 200 meters.

The coastal countries have limited sovereignty rights on the continental shelf to explore and
use “natural resources”, not sovereignty.

India position on the continental shelf: -

The Maritime Zone Act defines India’s position that India has declared a continental shelf 200
nautical miles from land. Indian rights and obligations under this command are similar to those
in other countries, as stipulated in international conventions. But, the government can declare
the continental shelf and its magical waters for a certain area and take action to regulate it.

Exclusive Economic Zone ( EEZ ): -

An exclusive economic zone is a sea zone prescribed by UNCLOS, over which a State has
several rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources including energy
production from water and wind. It stretches from the baseline, until 200 nautical miles (370.4
km) from its coast. In geographical terms, the EEZ may also include the continental shelf.

The main difference between the territorial sea (12-mile rule) and the exclusive economic zone
is that while territorial sea confers full sovereignty over the waters, EEZ is merely a sovereign
right which refers to coastal State right below the surface of the sea.

An example of an exclusive economic zone is the Bombay High, between 73 to 74 nautical

miles of the Indian coast which is used for oil exploration by the Indian government.

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India’s position on EEZ: -

Section 7 of the Maritime Act of 1976 provides exclusive rights for the purpose of exploring
and exploiting the natural resources within EEZ.

High Seas : -

The high seas mean, all the parts which are not coming under EEZ, territory or inland waters
of a country. This rule was formulated by Grotius in his maxim on “Mare Liberum” in 1609
and claimed that the sea could not be owned by anyone. As a result, all States supported that
ships can go and use freedom of navigation, fight, fishing and building artificial islands etc.
But, the command has been considerably changed under the convention on the Law of the sea
of 1982. Article 87(2) of the convention lays down the limitation of the general nature on the
freedom of high seas by stating that the freedom of the high seas “shall be exercised with due
regard to the interests of other States in their exercise of the freedom of high seas”.

Flag State rule: -

For legal purposes, a vessel, ship, aircraft, the submarine has to be registered in a particular
country, and for all practical purposes, it must fly or display the flag of the registered country.
The Flag State rule is applicable for both military and commercial ships, also for all kinds of
oil tanks and even cruise ships. As of now, Liberia and Panama are the two countries which
have a maximum number of ships registered but most of the ships are broken down and sold
as junk in Alang, Gujarat. The Flag State rule principal has also been implemented under Part
VII Article 92 of UNCLOS and even in environmental disputes, the Flag State rule can be
implemented under Article 217(1) of UNCLOS, 1982.7

7
Flag state vs Port state, available at: https://www.mitags.org/flag-vs-port-state

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Case: -

S.S Lotus case (France Vs. Turkey, 1927)

Fact: -

In8 1925, after Mustapha Kemal pasha started liberalising the Turkish economy, Turkey started
to expand the trade abroad with other countries. Unfortunately, a French vessel S.S lotus and
Turkish ship S.S Bozkurt collided, because of which the Turkish ship damaged and killed 8
Turkish Nationals on board of Turkish vessel. The remaining survivors of the Turkish ship were
taken to Turkey onboard S.S lotus.

In Turkey, the captain of the French ship, and the first watch officer, Monsiver Demons, were
charged with manslaughter and Demons was sentenced to imprisonment and fine. The French
government demanded the release of Monsieur Demons and the transfer of his case to the
French Court. Turkey and France agreed to refer the dispute to the PCIJ (Permanent Court of
International Justice).

Conclusion

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) creates a
comprehensive command to govern the rights of nations in respect of the world’s oceans.
International Maritime Organization (IMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations
responsible for improving maritime safety and preventing pollution from ships. Life itself arose
from the oceans. Even now, when the continents have been mapped and their interiors made
accessible by road, river and air, most of the people in the world live no more than 200 miles
from the sea and relate closely to it.

8
Lotus Case (Summary), available at: https://ruwanthikagunaratne.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/lotus-case-
summary

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 References

a) https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/uncls/uncls
b) P. Hoagland, M.E. Schumacher, “Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences (Second Edition)”,
2001
c) www.curtis.com/glossary/public-international-law/unclos
d) https://www.britannica.com/topic/Law-of-the-Sea
e) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13748349
f) https://www.britannica.com/topic/contiguous-zone
g) https://www.mitags.org/flag-vs-port-state
h) https://ruwanthikagunaratne.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/lotus-case-summary

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