This book examines the implications of geographical change for maritime jurisdiction under the law of the sea. In a multistranded intervention, it challenges existing accounts of the consequences of climate-related change for entitlement to maritime space, maritime limits, and international maritime boundaries. It also casts new light on the question of whether a loss of habitable land and large-scale population displacement will precipitate a loss of territorial sovereignty and the legal 'extinction' of affected States. This study of the legal significance of geographical change is grounded in an in-depth study of the role of geography in the law of the sea. As well as offering a new perspective on the pressing question of how climate change will affect maritime jurisdiction, territorial sovereignty, and statehood, the book contributes to the scholarship on maritime delimitation and international boundaries generally (on land and at sea). It includes an analysis of the principle of intertemporal law that suggests a useful framework for considering questions of stability and change in international law more broadly. This rigorous and original study will be of value to anyone concerned with the implications of climate-related change for maritime jurisdiction, territorial sovereignty, and statehood. Its broader analysis of the existing law and engagement with a range of doctrinal debates through the lens of the question of geographical change will be of interest to scholars and practitioners of the law of the sea, the law of territory, and the law relating to international boundaries.

In The Regime of Islands Reframed, Clive Schofield examines the definition of islands and other insular features under the international law of the sea with particular reference to the South China Sea case between China and the Philippines which has served to reframe understanding of this contentious area of international law.

In the years since 1994, when the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) entered into force, the ocean law regime has been profoundly affected by an interplay of new forces in global ocean affairs. Numbered among them are innovations in technology and science, the emergence of intensified piracy and other challenges to maritime security, national, and regional programs. In Ocean Law and Policy: Twenty Years of Development under the UNCLOS Regime, experts from fourteen countries present nineteen papers that provide insightful analyses of these wide-ranging issues that form the emerging new context of UNCLOS as a keystone to a working regime system. Accessible as well as authoritative, this volume offers to general readers as well as academics, policy officials, and legal experts a set of important analyses and provocative insights, forming a major contribution to the literature of ocean studies.

This book addresses the often vexed question of national maritime claims and the delimitation of international maritime boundaries. The number of undelimited international maritime boundaries is much larger than the number of agreed lines. The two boundaries that define the marine domain of coastal states are examined. First, the baselines along the coast may consist of low-water lines or straight lines or a combination of both. When straight lines are used they define the seaward limit of the state's internal waters. Second, the outer limits of claims to territorial seas, contiguous zones and exclusive economic zones are measured from the baselines. All states will have to delimit at least one international boundary with a neighbouring state, whether adjacent or opposite. In confined seas no state can claim the full entitlement and must negotiate international boundaries with all neighbours. Many states bordering oceans can claim the full entitlement seawards, although they will need to delimit national boundaries with adjacent neighbours.