The 'New' Law of the Sea and the Law of Armed Conflict at Sea

Abstract : The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea establishes a regime for the oceans that includes a number of in addition to the traditional divisions of internal waters, territorial sea, and high seas. Although explicitly applicable only in peacetime, these new zones have a spillover effect on the law of naval warfare, particularly in the relationships between belligerents and neutral States. The spillover effect is most pronounced in the expanded territorial sea of twelve nautical miles and in archipelagic States. Mechanical extension of rules that were applicable to a narrow (three-nautical mile) territorial sea to these broader areas of national jurisdiction is likely to create additional tensions between neutrals and belligerents, perhaps widening the areas of conflict and drawing neutrals into it. The study concludes that despite the dangers of such a result, the developing law, as reflected in the military manuals of several maritime States, seems to accept the old rules as applicable to the new and expanded national zones in the oceans.