Law Commons^™

Artificial Waterways In International Water Law: An American Perspective, Tamar Meshel

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Freshwater is a fleeting natural resource that can never be fully harnessed or appropriated by humans. Nonetheless, under both domestic and international law, freshwater is a regulated resource and legal principles have developed to govern its allocation and use. But what of freshwater that, rather than flowing naturally, has been made to so flow by human intervention? Should artificial waterways be subject to the same legal principles that govern the ownership and use of waterways that are naturally occurring?

This Article takes a first step toward clarifying when and how international water law principles applicable to natural transboundary waterways should …

Competing Claims: The Developing Role Of International Law And Unilateral Challenges To Maritime Claims In The South China Sea, Kevin Leddy

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Chinese military and economic expansion have led to a commensurate decrease in the ability of neighboring countries to object to excessive maritime claims in the South China Sea. The existing framework of international law under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea provides an anchoring point for coastal states' legal claims to the region, but it does not adequately address the complicated diplomacy challenges created by unilateral military action and unique geographical issues, such as artificial islands. Gradual acquiescence to maritime claims that do not comply with international law results from these conditions. Once these boundaries are …

Artificial Islands And Territory In International Law, Imogen Saunders, Dr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Artificially created islands are a contemporary reality, created and used for military and nonmilitary purposes. Analysis of such islands has largely been limited to their status under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) regime. Their position under general international law, however, remains unclear. In particular, the question of whether artificial islands can constitute sovereign territory remains unanswered. This Article analyzes the concept of territory in international law in the context of artificial islands, and argues that neither the doctrine of territory nor the strictures of UNCLOS prevent artificial islands from constituting territory capable of sovereign …

An International Commission Of Inquiry For The South China Sea?, Ryan Mitchell

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The multilateral territorial dispute over the South China Sea has intensified in recent years. In response, some observers endorse the apparent turn to "lawfare" on display in the ongoing Philippines v. China arbitration, conducted under Annex VII of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Yet the limited subject matter of this arbitration means that it can contribute only modestly to any ultimate resolution between claimants. Indeed, the Chinese side has argued against tribunal jurisdiction precisely on the basis of the primacy of questions over territorial sovereignty--which are barred from UNCLOS proceedings--to the determination of all other …

International Security And International Law In The Northwest Passage, James Kraska

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Concern over the loss of sea ice has renewed discussions over the legal status of the Arctic and subarctic transcontinental maritime route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, referred to as the "Northwest Passage." Over the past thirty years, Canada has maintained that the waters of the Passage are some combination of internal waters or territorial seas. Applying the rules of international law, as reflected in the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, suggests that the Passage is a strait used for international navigation. Expressing concerns over maritime safety and security, recognition of northern sovereignty, and protection of …

The Continental Shelf Beyond 200 Nautical Miles, Vladimir Jares

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

As policymakers, academia, and the media have paid increased attention to the Arctic region, there is more evidence of a certain lack of knowledge concerning the applicable international law.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of December 10, 1982--adopted in 1982 and in force since November 16, 1994--provides both a legal framework within which all activities in oceans and seas must be carried out and, as far as the seabed of the Arctic Ocean international law is concerned, answers to questions related to its legal status and applicable regulations.

If a coastal State wishes to delineate …

Attaining Optimal Deterrence At Sea: A Legal And Strategic Theory For Naval Anti-Piracy Operations, Michael Bahar

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

On January 21, 2006, a guided missile destroyer accomplished the U.S. Navy's first capture of suspected pirates in recent memory. As the Staff Judge Advocate for the NASSAU Strike Group, the Author advised the seizure, led the onboard investigation, oversaw the shipboard detentions, and testified at the trial in Kenya.

Drawing upon this experience, the Author constructs a comprehensive legal and strategic theory for piracy, defining the legal status of pirates and deriving the due process rights that should be afforded them.

The Article also analyzes the evolution of customary and positive international law to demonstrate that, contrary to conventional …

Universal Jurisdiction And The Pirate: Time For An Old Couple To Part, Joshua M. Goodwin

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

For hundreds of years, the world has allowed any nation-state to exercise universal jurisdiction over high seas piracy. This has been recently codified by the United Nations in the Convention on the Law of the Seas. It has been almost universally assumed that allowing states to do this was legitimate. As this Note will argue, however, the reasons for allowing states to exercise jurisdiction in this way no longer make sense in the modern world. Further, allowing states to exercise universal jurisdiction over pirates violates the due process rights of the pirates and poses a threat to international stability. To …

Jonathan I. Charney: An Appreciation, W. Michael Reisman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Jonathan Charney was one of the leading international legal scholars of his generation. He was the authority on the Law of the Sea and his magisterial four-volume work on international maritime boundaries quickly became the "vade mecum" for anyone involved in virtually any aspect of the Law of the Sea. But Law of the Sea was only a part of his awesome oeuvre. He wrote authoritatively on the use of force and humanitarian intervention; self-determination; customary international law and, in particular, soft law; international environmental law, international tribunals and jurisdiction, technology, and constitutional law. All of his work was marked …

Jonathan I. Charney: A Tribute, Richard B. Bilder

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I first met Jonathan in 1967 when he was a student in my international law class at the University of Wisconsin Law School. It was only my second year of teaching--I had just come to Wisconsin after some years with the State Department's Office of Legal Adviser. But Jonathan was a generous and forgiving, as well as excellent, student and somehow we both got through the course. Anyway, Jonathan became, first, the student of whom I was most fond; then, as his career developed, the student of whom I was most proud; and, eventually, as the years passed and our …

Charting The Law Of Maritime Boundaries, W. P. Gormley

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

When faced with disputes concerning maritime boundaries, one must analyze an array of materials, including: unilateral state practices, bilateral boundary agreements, multilateral regional conventions, the major international conventions--particularly the Law of the Sea Conventions of 1958 and the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention -- and customary international law. Beyond question, this huge corpus of material appears overwhelming to most practitioners and scholars when they attempt to resolve maritime disputes. Faced with such a daunting task, scholars, practitioners, and judges may want to consult International Maritime Boundaries, a brilliantly executed research project that analyzes 134 maritime boundaries. The …

Biodiversity In The Marine Environment: Resource Implications For The Law Of The Sea, Christopher C. Joyner

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Professor Joyner begins by explaining what biodiversity is and how it is currently being threatened. He then describes the existing international prescriptions that relate to the preservation of biodiversity, including the Convention on Biodiversity, the Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping and Other Matter, and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. Professor Joyner examines how these prescriptions protect or fail to protect biodiversity in the marine environment, both independently and in conjunction with related international environmental law. Finally, he assesses how international organizations, regional protection …

Dispute Settlement In International Environmental Issues: The Model Provided By The 1982 Convention On The Law Of The Sea, John W. Kindt

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Essay discusses the merits of the dispute settlement provisions found in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and calls for recognition and utilization of the provisions in all manner of disputes arising within the international legal community. Professor Kindt notes that despite the fact that the Convention's dispute settlement provisions represent the first time all major interest blocs of states have agreed upon a standard set of provisions for dispute settlement, the provisions have not received the attention they deserve. After analyzing the reasons for this lack of consideration, he urges that the dispute …

Interference With Non-National Ships On The High Seas: Peacetime Exceptions To The Exclusivity Rule Of Flag-State Jurisdiction, Robert C.F. Reuland

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Pursuant to the exclusivity rule of flag-state jurisdiction, a ship on the high seas is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state whose flag she lawfully flies. Conversely, a state may not ordinarily interfere with those ships registered under the laws of another state. International law makes exception to this general rule in certain discrete circumstances. When such an exception exists, a state may lawfully stop, visit, search, and arrest a non-national ship on the high seas--a right normally reserved to the flag-state alone. These exceptions to the exclusivity rule of flag-state jurisdiction form the subject matter of this …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Books Received

Consensus and Confrontation: The United States and the Law of the Sea Convention

By Jon M. Van Dyke.

Honolulu: The Law of the Sea Institute, University of Hawaii, 1985. Pp. x, 576. $29.50

Free Flow of Information; A New Paradigm. By Achal Mehra

Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1986. Pp. xiii, 225. $32.95

The Fund Agreement in the Courts, Volume III. By Joseph Gold Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 1986. Pp. xvi, 841.$45.00

A Standard for Justice; A Critical Commentary on the Proposed Bill of Rights for New Zealand

By Jerome B. Elkind and Antony Shaw

New York: Oxford …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Casebook on Carriage by Sea.

By E.R. Hardy Ivamy

London: Lloyd's of London Press, 1982. Pp. xxxix, 203. £11.50.

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Casebook on Shipping Law

By E.R. Hardy Ivamy

London: Lloyd's of London Press, 1982. Pp. xxx, 205. £11.50.

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Regional Development Agencies in Europe

Edited by Douglas Yuill

Hampshire, England: Gower, 1982. Pp. vii, 449.$44.50.

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United States Trade Policy Legislation: A Canadian View

By Rodney de C. Grey

Montreal: The Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1982. Pp. xvii, 130. $7.95.

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Transfer of Technology: U.S. Multinationals and Eastern Europe

By Marilyn L. Liebrenz

New York: Praeger Publishers, 1982. …

Books Received, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

THE MIDDLE EASTERN STATES AND THE LAW OF THE SEA

By Ali A.El-Hakim

Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1979. Pp. 293.Tables, maps, and international agreements.

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COMPLIANCE AND PUBLIC AUTHORITY: A THEORY WITH INTERNATIONAL APPLICATIONS

By Oran R. Young

Baltimore: Resources for the Future, 1979. Pp. 161.

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DOING BUSINESS WITH THE Russians

Under license from Westshore, Inc. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1978. Pp. 166.

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TAX LAW AND POLICY IN THE E.E.C.

By Alexander James Easson

London: Oceana Publications, 1980. Pp. 269. Tables of treaty provisions, secondary legislation, cases, and statistics.

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THE COLLAPSE OF WELFARE REFORM: POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, POLICY …

Books Received, C. A. P.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

COMPARATIVE LAW YEARBOOK

VOLUME 3, 1979.

Issued by the Center for International Legal Studies The Netherlands:

Sijthoff& Noordhoff, 1980. Pp. 287

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UNITED STATES FOREIGN RELATIONS LAW: DOCUMENTS AND SOURCES, VOLUME 1

EXECUTIVE AGREEMENTS

By Michael J.Glennon and Thomas M. Frank

Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1980. Pp. 474.

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U.S. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE, INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDIES, VOLUME 62 Edited by Richard B. Lillich and John Norton Moore

Newport, Rhode Island: Naval War College Press, 1980. Pp. 758.

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THE SOVIET PROCURACY AND THE SUPERVISION OF ADMINISTRATION

By Gordon B. Smith

The Netherlands: Sijthoff and Noordhoff,1978. Appendices. Pp. …

Free Navigation: Examination Of Recent Actions Of The United States Coast Guard, Edward H. Lueckenhoff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The use of aircraft and large, seagoing vessels for smuggling marijuana and other illicit drugs has created a burgeoning problem for United States efforts to control its borders. The use of foreign flag ships as "mother ships" is particularly troublesome. This practice involves foreign flag vessels, often containing several tons of marijuana, that hover in international waters just outside the United States territorial sea. The marijuana is transferred from these mother ships to smaller vessels which then cross into United States waters and distribute the contraband at prearranged points along the coast. The immunities provided by international law for foreign …

Books Received, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Chile: The Balanced View

Edited by Francisco Orrego Vicuna

Santiago: The University of Chile, 1975. Pp. 298.

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Codification in the Communist World--Symposium in Memory of Zsolt Szirmai Organized by Donald Barry, F.J.M. Feldbrugge & Dominick Lasok

Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1975. Pp. xv, 353. $42.50.

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Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons: Prevention and Punishment

By Louis M. Bloomfield & Gerald F. Fitzgerald.

New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975. Pp. xviii, 272. $16.50.

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Criminal Justice in Eighteenth Century Mexico

By Colin M. MacLachlan

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974. Pp.viii, 141. $9.00.

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EEC Anti-Trust Law--Principles and Practice

By D. Barounos, …

International Straits, Global Communications, And The Evolving Law Of The Sea, W. George Grandison, Virginia J. Meyer

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the continuing law of the sea negotiations, strong support has developed among a majority of states for the extension of territorial seas to twelve miles. In the absence of other provisions, codification of this extension in a new law of the sea treaty will cause over 100 straits, including many of the most heavily traveled and strategically important, to be overlapped by the territorial sea. Because this will alter the pattern of international legal norms that has preserved freedom of navigation and overflight between ocean areas, considerable controversy has ensued over the question of what legal regime should govern …

Books Received, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

ABSTRACTION AND USE OF WATER: A COMPARISON OF LEGAL REGIMES By Ludwik A. Teclaff

New York, United Nations Publications,1972. Pp. iv, 254. $5.50.

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CONSULATE OF THE SEA AND RELATED DOCUMENTS

By Stanley S. Jados

University, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press,1975. Pp. xvi, 326. $12.00

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FOOTSTEPS INTO THE FUTURE

by Rajni Kothari

New York: The Free Press, 1974. Pp. xxiii, 173. $8.95.

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THE FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

Edited by H. Gary Knight

St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Co., 1975.Pp. xiii, 253. $14.00.

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THE ILLEGAL DIVERSION OF AIRCRAFT AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

By Edward McWhinney

Leiden: A.W. …

Multiple Jurisdiction--Will It Save Or Destroy The Oceans? Political Analysis Of A Legal Problem, Charles F. Doran

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The recent trend of claims to the ocean and its riches has led far beyond the liberal twelve nautical mile territorial sea limit that the United States is prepared to recognize. In particular, two documents, the Declaration of Santo Domingo, proposing a "patrimonial sea" of 200 miles, and the draft articles on an "exclusive economic zone" of 200 miles submitted by Kenya, are likely to find much favor at the substantive session of the Third Law of the Sea Conference to be held at Caracas in the summer of 1974. Emerging from conflicts of interest, which have gradually eroded the …

Books Received, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

AMERICAN LABOR AND THE MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION

Edited by Duane Kujawa

New York: Praeger Publishers, 1973. Pp. xxvii,285. $18.50.

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ASPECTS DU DROIT INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIQUE: ELABORATION CONTROLE--SANCTION.

Societe Francaise pour le Droit International. Paris: A. Pedone, 1972. Pp. 221. n.p. (paper).

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THE BASES OF INTERNATIONAL ORDER

Edited by Alan James

London: Oxford University Press, 1973. Pp. viii, 218 £ 3.50 net.

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CURRENT LEGAL ASPECTS OF DOING BUSINESS IN THE FAR EAST

Edited by Richard C. Allison

Chicago: American Bar Association,1972. Pp. vii, 208. $10.00.

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DOMESTIC TAXATION AND FOREIGN TRADE: THE UNITED STATES-EUROPEAN BORDER TAX DISPUTE

By Michael von …

Books Received, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Books Received

NULLITY AND REVISION: THE REVIEW AND ENFORCEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL JUDGMENTS AND AWARDS

By W. Michael Reisman

New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971. Pp. vii, 900. $25.00.

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THE ENDLESS CRISIS

Edited by Frangois Duchne

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971. Pp. 310. $2.75.

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INTERNATIONAL LAW, NATIONAL TRIBUNALS AND THE RIGHTS OF ALIENS By Grant Dawson and Ivan L. Head

Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1971. Pp. vii, 344. $11.75.

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THE LIMITED ELITE: POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT IN TWO INDIAN CITIES

By Donald B. Rosenthal

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970. Pp.vii, 360. $12.75.

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INTERNATIONAL LAW: THE SUBSTANCE. …

Artificial Islands Constructed On United States Continental Shelf Denied Status Of Independent Sovereignty, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The United States brought injunction and trespass claims in the federal district court against three private persons to prevent the unauthorized construction of artificial islands atop several submerged coral reefs located about four and one-half miles off the southeast coast of Florida. These reefs were composed of the skeletal remains of coral organisms and lay at a depth of 600 feet. The reefs continued to grow laterally, but had reached their maximum height and were completely submerged at all times except at low tide when their highest projections were momentarily visible. The reef area, which harbored countless varieties of marine …

The Outer Space, Antarctic And Pell Treaties--Similar Solutions To A Common Problem, Allen W. Rigsby

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

During the past two decades, there has been an increasing interest in those rules of international law governing the exploration and exploitation of ocean space. This is due primarily to the recent upsurge of technological developments among the highly industrialized nations. Rivalry between the U.S.S.R. and the United States has spurred these two countries, in particular, to a high level of competition in the field of ocean mining technology. The less highly developed countries are also interested in exploiting the ocean space in order to bolster their own economies. The traditional principle governing the law of the oceans has been …

Shipowners' Limitation Of Liability In International Seafaring Disasters, Joseph N. Barker

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Adherence to the principle of strict limitation of liability in any area of the law has been out of vogue since the time of Winterbottom v. Wright. This is true whether it be in the area of products liability, master-servant relations, or international air travel. The trend is to remove all limitation on recoveries available under our law for death or injury. An exception is the limitation of liability in maritime disasters. Here, in this watery domain, the narrowness that formerly dominated the field of products liability continues to exist. Some critics condemn such strict limitation as an anachronism in …