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Article: Law of the Sea
- Article from:
- West's Encyclopedia of American Law
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LAW OF THE SEA
The part of public
international law
that deals with maritime issues.
The term
law of the sea
appears similar to the term
maritime law
, but it has a significantly different meaning. Maritime law deals with jurisprudence that governs ships and shipping, and is concerned with contracts, torts, and other issues involving private shipping, whereas the law of the sea refers to matters of public international law.
Many topics are contained within the law of-the-sea concept. These include the definition of a state's territorial waters, the right of states to fish the oceans and to mine underneath the oceans, and the rights of states to control navigation.
The area outside a ...