1. International Law of the Sea
INTERNATIONAL LAW 1 (BA)
30 OCTOBER 2014

2. I. Introduction Definition of SEA
History (1494 Treaty of Tordesillas; Mare Liberum = Grotius 1609 Mare Clausum = Selden 1635
Sources of the law of the sea (customary law – traditionally & treaties)
Codification
The Hague Codification Conference of 1930
UNCLOS I 1958 in Geneva (4 conventions)
UNCLOS II 1960 (unsuccessful)
UNCLOS III  finally: 1982: adoption of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (in force since 1994) = comprehensive code of rules of international law on the sea
Dr. Tamás Molnár

3. Division made by the Treaty of Tordesillas
Dr. Tamás Molnár

4. II. Basic terms (maritime areas)
internal waters
baseline (~low-water mark), normal (tracé parallèle (=exact image of coastline) + straight lines (f. ex. Norway)
territorial sea (up to 12 nautical miles, full sovereignty, but: innocent passage;)
international straits  transit passage
contiguous zone (12-24 nautical miles, control), approx. 70 States
exclusive economic zone – EEA ( nautical miles, fishing + exploring + artifical islands)
continental shelf (only exploring/exploiting)
high seas (extra-territorial space  apart from state sovereignty)
Dr. Tamás Molnár

5. III. Maritime zones
Dr. Tamás Molnár

6. II. Law of the Sea 3) SPECIAL TYPES OF PERSONALITY
Sovereign Order of Malta: Rome, int. personality
Insurgents and belligerents communities (often represent political movements) IHL applies to them
National liberation movements: PLO observer in UN, representation of Palestinian People
Tamás Molnár
December 2008

7. Illustration of the importance of EEZ
Dr. Tamás Molnár

8. IV. High Seas Freedoms: - navigation - fishing - flying over it
- laying submarines cables & pipelines
- doing scientific research
- construct artificial islands + installations
!peaceful use! (f. ex.: piracy: NO)
+ the Area (deep seabed, common heritage of mankind), role of Int’l Seabed Authority control over min. resources
Dr. Tamás Molnár

9. ISA – locations of cobalt-rich crusts
Dr. Tamás Molnár

10. V. Maritime delimitation
Many ICJ cases (newest: SOM v. Kenya)+ other judicial fora (e.g. PCA – SI/CRO)
Example = RO v. UKR (Snake island), ICJ 2009
Dr. Tamás Molnár

11. THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION!
Dr. Tamás MOLNÁR
adjunct professor on PIL
Tel.:
Dr. Tamás Molnár