The Oxford Handbook of the Law of the Sea
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Anteprima |
Human
activities have taken place in the world's oceans and seas for most of
human history. With such a vast number of ways in which the oceans can
be used for trade, exploited for natural resources and fishing, as well
as concerns over maritime security, the legal systems regulating the
rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's
oceans have long been a crucial part of international law. The United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea comprehensively defined the
parameters of the law of the sea in 1982, and since the Convention was
concluded it has seen considerable development. This Oxford Handbook
provides a comprehensive and original analysis of its current debates
and controversies, both theoretical and practical. Written by over forty
expert and interdisciplinary contributors, the Handbook sets out how
the law of the sea has developed, and the challenges it is currently
facing. The Handbook consists of forty chapters divided into six parts.
First, it explains the origins and evolution of the law of the sea, with
a particular focus upon the role of key publicists such as Hugo Grotius
and John Selden, the gradual development of state practice, and the
creation of the 1982 UN Convention. It then reviews the components which
comprise the maritime domain, assessing their definition, assertion,
and recognition. It also analyses the ways in which coastal states or
the international community can assert control over areas of the sea,
and the management and regulation of each of the maritime zones. This
includes investigating the development of the mechanisms for maritime
boundary delimitation, and the decisions of the International Tribunal
for the Law of the Sea. The Handbook also discusses the actors and
intuitions that impact on the law of the sea, considering their
particular rights and interests, in particular those of state actors and
the principle law of the sea institutions. Then it focuses on
operational issues, investigating longstanding matters of resource
management and the integrated oceans framework. This includes a
discussion and assessment of the broad and increasingly influential
integrated oceans management governance framework that interacts with
the traditional law of the sea. It considers six distinctive regions
that have been pivotal to the development of the law of the sea, before
finally providing a detailed analysis of the critical contemporary
issues facing the law of the sea. These include threatened species,
climate change, bioprospecting, and piracy. The Handbook will be an
invaluable and thought-provoking resource for scholars, students, and
practitioners of the law of the sea.