MARITIME LAW - COURSE OUTLINE

Course objectives
 
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:

• To define the relationship between Public International Law (PIL) and the Maritime law
• Demonstrate an in-depth understanding and appreciation of the key principles of the Maritime law as codified in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC), the rights and duties of States in the different maritime zones, the navigational regimes applicable in the maritime zones, and how disputes are settled in the law of the sea.
• Improve cognitive skills in comparing how the law of the sea developed through State practice and negotiations, and in evaluating the diverse implementation of the LOSC.  
• Demonstrate knowledge of the law of the sea by investigating how the LOSC is applied in Coastal states and specifically in Kenya, understand the impact of Article 2(6) of the Constitution of Kenya (2010) on Kenya’s domestication status and reflect on how relevant professions can help improve the implementation of the Convention.
• Develop technical research skills in interpreting the provisions of the LOSC and in relating other aspects of public international law including fisheries law, international environmental law and laws of armed conflict.
• Enhance communication and writing skills in the analysis of issues related to the implementation of the LOSC and in providing solutions to identified problems.

 
 References
 
(i)  Conventions:
 

• The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
•      The 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf
• The 1958 Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone
•      The 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas
• The 1958 Geneva Convention on Fisheries and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas

Some useful journals for Law of the Sea are:

• International Journal for Marine and Coastal Law
• Ocean Development and International Law
• Marine Policy
• Ocean and Coastal Management

 
Some useful websites for the Law of the Sea are:
 
United Nations Oceans and Law of the Sea www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm  
International Maritime Organization (IMO) www.imo.org
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) www.fao.org
International Seabed Authority (ISA) www.isa.org.jm
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea www.itlos.org
United Nations Environment Programme-Regional Seas Programme – www.unep.org/Regional Seas/
 
Secondary reference will be made to other topical treaties such as the 1986 UN Convention for Registration of Ships, MARPOL, the SUA Convention, the ISPS Code and the 1972 London Dumping Convention and its 1996 Protocol.
 
(ii) Basic Textbooks:
 

• Yoshifumi Tanaka, The International Law of the Sea (Cambridge, 2015)
• Donald R. Rothwell & Tim Stephens, The International Law of the Sea (Hart Publishing, 2016)
• R.R. Churchill & A.V. Lowe, The Law of the Sea (Manchester, 1999)
• E.D. Brown, The International Law of the Sea, vols. I & II (Dartmouth, 1994)
• D. Anderson, Modern Law of the Sea: Selected Essays (Martinus Nijhoff, 2008)

 

Course description
 
The Law of the Sea is an international (and municipal, as far as domestication is concerned) course whose pre-requisite is Public International Law (PIL). Students must refer to both historical and current material during personal study. The unit focuses on baselines, coastlines, maritime zones and their delimitation, together with issues and disputes arising at sea.
 
Course Content/Synopsis:
 
The course outline is provided as hereunder:
 
 TOPIC 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

• Class familiarization
• Timetable, contact hours and communication
• Course description & objectives
• Course content
• Reference materials
• Mode of learning
• Mode of continuous assessment/examination
• Definition of key terms

TOPIC 2: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL MARITIME LAW
 

• First UN Conference (1958)
• Second UN Conference (1960)
• Third UN Conference (1973-82)  

 
         Readings
Tanaka, Chap. 5
Churchill & Lowe, p. 3
Fisheries (United Kingdom v Norway) [1951] ICJ Rep 116
 

TOPIC 3: SOURCES OF THE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME LAW

• General Principles of Law
• Customary Law
• Judicial Decisions      
• Conventions 1958 & 1982  

 
Readings
 
1958 Conventions
UNCLOS
Rothwell & Stephens, Chap. 1 E.D. Brown,
Vol. 1, Chap. 3
Churchill & Lowe,
    Chap. 1      
Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries Case (U.K. v. Norway) (1951) ICJ Rep. 116 North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (1969) ICJ Rep. 3
 

TOPIC 4: BASELINES & DELIMITATION OF MARITIME BOUNDARIES

• Nature and importance of baselines
• Delimitation
• Territorial sea
• Contiguo us zone

          Readings
– UNCLOS, Articles 5, 13 & 14 Rothwell &
Stephens, Chap. 2
E.D. Brown, Vol. 1,
Chap. 5 Churchill &
Lowe, Chap. 2

TOPIC 5: DELIMITATION OF MARITIME BOUNDARIES

• The Continental Shelf  
• The   EEZ
• The High Seas
• Delimitation by Agreement Nature and importance
• Geographic framework: Adjacent -vs- Opposite coasts

 
Legal principles: Equidistance -vs-
Equitable  
 
Readings
 
UNCLOS, Articles 5, 15,
74, 76, 83 Rothwell &
     Stephens, Chap. 16
E.D. Brown, Vol. 1, Chap. 11
Churchill & Lowe, Chap. 10
Kenya/Tanzania Maritime Boundaries
     Agreement Tunisia/Libya delimitation
Gulf of Maine
Libya/Malta case
The Maritime Zones Act, Chapter 371, Laws of Kenya North Sea Continental Shelf Cases
(1969) ICJ Rep. 3
The Anglo-French Continental Shelf Arbitration (1979) 54 ILR 6
 
 TOPIC 6: ISLANDS, STRAITS AND CANALS

• Legal status
• Delimitation  

 
Readings
 
UNCLOS, Articles 34-
54; 121 Tanaka,
     Chaps. 2.3; 3.4
Rothwell & Stephens, Chaps.
8 & 11 E.D. Brown, Vol. 1,
     Chaps. 7 & 8
Churchill & Lowe, Chap. 5
 
 TOPIC 7: THE SAFETY OF NAVIGATION

• Innocent passage
• Transit passage
• Nationality of ships
• Rights of navigation

Readings
 
UNCLOS, Articles 91-93, 97, 99,
     108-111 1986 Convention
Churchill & Lowe, Chap. 13
 
 
TOPIC 8: MARINE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

• Scope
• International cooperation
• Transfer of technology 

Readings
 
    –     Churchill & Lowe, Chap. 16
 
 TOPIC 9: PROTECTION OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

• Prevention and control of marine pollution
• Conservation of marine living resources
• Role of IMO
• Environmental responsibility (‘precautionary’ principle and ‘polluter-pays’ principle)

 
Readings
 
UNCLOS, Articles 192-235 Tanaka, Chap.
     15
Rothwell & Stephens, Chaps. 13 & 15 E.D. Brown, Vol. 1, Chap.
     15
Churchill & Lowe, Chap. 15
Philippe Sands, Principles of International Environmental Law, 2nd ed., (C.U.P.,
     2003), pp. 391-458
Patricia Birnie, et al., International Law and Environment, 3rd ed., (O.U.P., 2009), pp. 702-752

TOPIC 10: MARINE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• (a) Non- living resources
• Off shore mining activates (b) Living resources  
• fishing in the Territorial Sea & EEZ
• Shared stocks and straddling stocks
• High Seas and Seabed

 
Readings
Churchill & Lowe, Chap. 14
Fisheries Management and Development Act, 2016
 

TOPIC 11: MARITIME REGULATION AND ENFORCEMENT

• Military/Naval
• Economic (c) Security
• Enforcement operations
• Specialist regimes relating to maritime regulation  International law regarding enforcement powers  

 
Readings
Churchill & Lowe, Chap. 17
P. Musili-Wambua, ‘Governance of the Forgotten Province: A Critical Appraisal of the Policy, Legal and Institutional Frameworks for the Control
and Management of Marine Resources Within Kenya's Maritime Zones’
     (unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Ghent, 2009)
Natalie Klein, Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea (OUP, 2011)
 
 TOPIC 12: DISPUTES-SETTLEMENT

• Characterization of a ‘LoS’ dispute
• Optional-vs-compulsory jurisdiction
• The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)
• The Sea-Bed Dispute Chamber
• The International Court of Justice (ICJ)
• Jurisdiction and procedure
• Admiralty jurisdiction in Kenya

     Readings
UNCLOS, Articles 186-191;
         279-299 Tanaka, Chap. 19
Rothwell & Stephens, Chap. 18 Churchill &
         Lowe, Chap. 19
The M.V. Saiga, (St. Vincent and the Grenadines v. Guinea) 37 ILM 360 (1998)  
The M.V. Saiga, (No. 2) Case summarized in 94 AJIL 140 (2000)
The Grand Prince (Belize v. France) Case summarized in 96 AJIL 219 (2002)