LAW OF THE

SEA
Introduction
 Law on the sea were evolved during the
time of Grotius and they were observed by
the States as customary rules of
international law.
 The entire SEA was divided into three parts:

a) Territorial Sea
b) Contiguous Zone
c) the High Seas
 Attempts were made to codify the law of

sea but not succeeded.

I &II United Nations Conference on
the Law of Sea
 IN 1958, a conference was held in Geneva to
consider number of draft prepared by International
law Commission.
 This conference adopted 4 conventions:
1. Convention on the Territorial Sea & Contiguous Zone
2. Convention on the High Seas
3. Convention on the Fishing & Conservation of Living Resources
4. Convention on the Continental Shelf
 The Breadth of sea was not decided.
 2nd Conference was held in 1960 in Geneva, but
was failed due to different claims of various
countries as to breadth of the territorial sea.
Survey by Arvid Pardo

 As early as in 1967, the

representative of Malta,
Arvid Pardo gave a survey of
the mineral resources of the
Sea bed before the first
committee of the UN.
 His survey revealed that the rich Manganese deposits
contain the following minerals:
1. 43 billion tons of Aluminum
2. 358 billion tons Manganese
3. 7.9 billion tons of copper etc.
 He also declared that the sea-bed and the ocean floor
should be treated as “the common heritage of
mankind”.
Third United nations Conference on
the law of the Sea

 On April, 30, 1982, the Conference adopted

the Law of the Sea by an overwhelming
majority of 130 States.
 The Convention on the Law of Sea of 1982

has 320 articles.

 It lays down for all parts and virtually all uses

of Sea.
Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI
of UN Convention on the law of Sea
 Deep sea-bed mining provisions of the Convention

were not acceptable to the industrialized States.

 The US believed that it, more than any other nation,

had the most to lose from a restricted deep sea-bed

mining regime because:
1. Convention has placed burdensome international regulations on sea-
bed mining
2. It has established a super national mining entity.
3. It lacked provisions for protecting investment made in deep sea-bed
mining etc.
 Thus, the US was of the view that it will continue to
allow its firms to explore for and, when market
permits, exploit these resources.
 When it was known that the Convention will
not be generally accepted by States especially
industrialized countries, in 1990, the
Secretary General of UN took initiative to
convene certain formal & informal
consultations.
 These consultations resulted in the adoption

of the Agreement Relating to the

implementation of Part-XI of UN Convention
on the Law of Sea on August, 17, 1994.
Territorial Sea
 Territorial Sea

 Territorial Sea may be defined –

“as that part of the sea which is adjacent to
the coast and over which International Law
permits the Costal States to exercise
sovereignty subject only to a general right of
innocent passage on the part of foreign
shipping”.
 The possession of such territory is not

optional but compulsory .

 The term "territorial waters" is also
sometimes used informally to describe any
area of water over which a state has
jurisdiction, including internal waters, the
contiguous zone, the exclusive economic
zone and potentially the continental shelf.
 Territorial Sea
 The Geneva Convention on Territorial Sea and
Contiguous Zone of 1958 (Art-I)—
 “Sovereignty of State extends, beyond its land

territory and its internal waters, to a belt of

sea adjacent to its coast, described as the
‘territorial Sea”.
 Territorial Sea

 Sovereignty of the State is confined not only

to the waters and land lying within its
boundaries. It also extends to a part of the
sea which is adjacent to the Costal State.
 These waters are contained in a certain zone

or belt called ‘Marginal Zone’ or ‘Marginal

Belt’.
 The rights which the Coastal States enjoy is

called ‘the Maritime Rights’.

 The Land dominates the Sea Principle-
 Territorial Sea

Two important aspects are involved in the

concept of territorial sea. They are-
a) Breadth of Territorial Sea
b) Rights of the States over the Territorial sea
 Breadth of Territorial Sea

 “Cannon Shot Rule”- Since a common ball

could travel three miles, this became the
accepted territorial water limit.
 Bynkershoek in his work ‘De Dominio
Maris’—
 “I should have to say in general terms that the

control from the land ends where the power

of man’s weapons ends”
Breadth of Territorial Sea

 The Second Geneva Conference was convened by

the General Assembly in 1960, but again the
breadth of the territorial sea could not be
prescribed.
 Different States claimed different claims—
 Territorial Sea Claims-
 3 Miles ---20 States
 4-10 Miles --9 States
 12 Miles --70 States
 12-200 Miles --12 States
 200 Miles --15 States
Breadth of Territorial Sea

 However, the Convention of 1982 has settled the

controversy by providing under Art.2 that every
State has the right to establish the breadth of its
territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12
nautical miles measured from the baselines.
 This became acceptable to most of the States.
 About 90 States including India have adopted
national legislation extending the maximum
breadth of the territorial sea to twelve nautical
miles.
RIGHTS of the States over Territorial
Sea

 Rights of Coastal States

 Rights of other States
 Innocent passage
CONTIGUOS ZONE

 Contiguous Zone is that part of the Sea which

is beyond and adjacent to the territorial
waters of coastal States.
 The Coastal States does not exercise
sovereignty over this part of area. However,
they may take appropriate action to protect
its revenue and like matters.
 In other words, Police and revenue
jurisdiction of the Coastal States extend to
the Contiguous zone.
 Geneva Convention on the Contiguous Zone
Art. 24 Para I-
“The Coastal States may exercise the control
necessary to
1. Prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal,
immigration or sanitary regulations within its
territory or territorial sea;
2. Punish infringement of the above regulations
committed within the territory or territorial
sea.
CONTINENTAL SHELF
 The concept of the Continental Shelf is
mainly co-related with the exploitation of
the natural resources from the sea adjacent
to territorial sea.
 US President Trueman on September 28,

1945 issued 2 proclamations.

 In 1950, Lauterpacht had stated that the

concept of the continental Shelf had become

a part of customary international law.
 India claimed for the first time in 1955.
Continental Shelf
 The Continental Shelf is: (Art. 1 of the Convention of
continental Shelf, 1958)
a) the sea bed and sub-soil of the submarine areas
adjacent to the coast, but outside the area of territorial
sea to a depth of 200 metres or beyond that limit to
where the depth of superjacent waters admits of the
exploitation of the natural resources of the said areas
b) the sea bed and subsoil of similar submarine areas
adjacent to the coast of island
 NORTH SEA CONTINENTAL SHELF CASE:- There is an
inherent right of the Coastal States to exploit and use
the area of the sea adjacent to land territory.
Rights of Coastal States over
Continental Shelf
 Coastal States may explore and exploit the
natural resources.
 Those Coastal States which exploits resources

beyond 200 nautical miles from the baseline

are required to make ‘payments or
contributions’ to the International Sea-Bed
Authority.
 The payments shall be made annually.
Rights of Other States over
Continental Shelf
 Right to lay submarine cables
 Right to lay pipelines etc
 However, these rights are exercised with the

consent of the Coastal States.

 Indian Position to be dealt with Maritime

Zones Act of 1976.

EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE
 The concept of EEZ was initiated by KENYA in
1972.
 EEZ found its place in the Geneva Convention

on the Law of Sea 1982.

 EEZ is an area beyond and adjacent to the

territorial sea extending up to 200 nautical

miles seaward from the coast baselines from
which the breadth of the territorial sea is
measured.
Rights of the Coastal States over EEZ
 Coastal States have jurisdiction with regard to
the establishment of artificial Islands,
installations and structures; marine scientific
research etc.
High Seas
 Sea which is not included in the territorial
waters.
 The rule was laid down by Grotius by arguing
that the SEA can not be owned.
 Under the Customary rule of international law,
the high seas were free and open to all States.
 “Freedom of the High Sea” was a well recognized
principle which means that the high seas being
common to all states, no State may purport to
subject any part of them to its territorial
sovereignty.
International Tribunal for the Law of
the Sea
 This has jurisdiction to decide the disputes
concerning the interpretation or application of
the convention.
 The Tribunal shall be comprising of 21
independent members elected from among
persons enjoying the highest reputation for
fairness and integrity and recognized
competence in the field of law of Sea.
 The Tribunal is open to States parties to the
convention.
 Exclusive jurisdiction over the issues of sea-bed.