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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 …