The issues surrounding the regimes of ice-covered areas, international straits, and passage rights of State vessels are analysed for the purpose of assessing the status of law and State practice in Russian Arctic waters.

The right of transit passage in straits and the analogous right of archipelagic sealanes passage in archipelagic states, negotiated in the 1970s and embodied in the 1982 UNCLOS, sought to approximate the freedom of navigation and overflight while expressly recognising the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the coastal state over the waters concerned. However, the allocation of rights and duties of the coastal state and third states is open to interpretation. Recent developments in state practice, such as Australia's requirement of compulsory pilotage in the Torres Strait, the bridge across the Great Belt and the proposals for a bridge across the Strait of Messina, the enhanced environmental standards applicable in the Strait of Bonifacio and Canada's claims over the Arctic Route, make it necessary to reassess the whole common law of straits. The Legal Regime of Straits examines the complex relationship between the coastal state and the international community.

An account of the legal regime of straits and the allocation of rights and duties relating to transit passage.

Originally published in Russian, this book is the first major Russian treatise on the international law of the sea in the post-Soviet era. The book covers the legal status and legal regime of the sea expanses and follows their classification in the 1982 United Nations Convention. In addition, a separate section is devoted to the legal status of the Caspian Sea. The author analyzes in-depth the international legal norms regulating the preservation of the marine environment and concludes that a system of international cooperation is essential both in the sphere of navigation and economic exploitation of oceanic resources. Extensive attention is given to Russian practice. As Russia plays a central and influential role in world maritime policy, a book that specifically deals with Russian approaches in this field cannot fail to be of importance to anyone interested in the law of the sea.

Now in a third, revised edition, Excessive Maritime Claims by J. Ashley Roach and Robert W. Smith is designed for law of the sea and maritime law specialists. The book draws on published governmental material in the public domain, specifically the U.S., and addresses recent progress in maritime security, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by sea, piracy, and protection of underwater cultural heritage. As a result of significant developments in the law of the sea, primarily with reference to the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, Excessive Maritime Claims provides up to date coverage of current affairs as well as introduce new topics such as: submarine cables, polar areas, environmental protection, sovereign immunity and sunken ships, and maritime law enforcement.