The 12 mile rule comes from the law of the sea and it concerns the question of the breadth of territorial sea that coastal States are entitled. After considerable debate among States, it was only in the '80's-'90's that consensus was reached and States agreed that, in principle, the maximum of territorial sea that they can claim is 12 nautical miles. This rule is rather technical and to be honest I am not very fond of the law of the sea. What I find interesting however is the background story to the 12 mile rule.
In 1609 Hugo Grotius, a Dutch jurist who is regarded toady as the father of contemporary International Law, published the book Mare Liberum (The Free Sea or the Freedom of the Sea). In Mare Liberum Hugo Grotius argued for and formulated a new principle: the sea is international territory and every nation had the right to use it. Although this is a well-known fact - especially to international lawyers - many people are not aware that Mare Liberum was written on a commission (in fact most masterpieces in art were written or painted on a commission). The full title of Grotius' treatise was 'The Freedom of the Seas or The Right which Belongs to the Dutch to take part in the East Indian Trade'. Grotius was a legal counsel to the Dutch East India Company which at that moment was trying to object Portugal's claims on holding exclusive rights to trade with East India and exercise navigation rights. Therefore, Grotius came with his dissertation to refute these claims. Leaving aside the not that altruistic motives of Grotius and the Dutch East India Company, the fact remains that Grotius' work established an unprecedented principle - even according to today's standards: the Sea was an international public good, the common property of all and the private property of none.
Coming back to the 12 mile rule now, it officially sealed a shift in Grotius' approach. The Sea is now divided and fragmented into zones by using precise mathematical instruments. Most part of the Sea is now seen as part of the territory of individual States or as zones where they can exercise aspects of their jurisdiction. Now-days you get lengthy judgments by international courts in which technical experts use their rulers and dividers to delimit zones and slice the Sea into pieces. The need for technical standards and for establishing our authority over the last piece of land or the last drop of the sea replaced vision. Bureaucracy took over our imagination and the principle that the Sea belongs to everybody and nobody.
Needless to say that this blog has nothing to do with the Law of the Sea. Yet it has something to do with International Law and other stuff.
In 1609 Hugo Grotius, a Dutch jurist who is regarded toady as the father of contemporary International Law, published the book Mare Liberum (The Free Sea or the Freedom of the Sea). In Mare Liberum Hugo Grotius argued for and formulated a new principle: the sea is international territory and every nation had the right to use it. Although this is a well-known fact - especially to international lawyers - many people are not aware that Mare Liberum was written on a commission (in fact most masterpieces in art were written or painted on a commission). The full title of Grotius' treatise was 'The Freedom of the Seas or The Right which Belongs to the Dutch to take part in the East Indian Trade'. Grotius was a legal counsel to the Dutch East India Company which at that moment was trying to object Portugal's claims on holding exclusive rights to trade with East India and exercise navigation rights. Therefore, Grotius came with his dissertation to refute these claims. Leaving aside the not that altruistic motives of Grotius and the Dutch East India Company, the fact remains that Grotius' work established an unprecedented principle - even according to today's standards: the Sea was an international public good, the common property of all and the private property of none.
Coming back to the 12 mile rule now, it officially sealed a shift in Grotius' approach. The Sea is now divided and fragmented into zones by using precise mathematical instruments. Most part of the Sea is now seen as part of the territory of individual States or as zones where they can exercise aspects of their jurisdiction. Now-days you get lengthy judgments by international courts in which technical experts use their rulers and dividers to delimit zones and slice the Sea into pieces. The need for technical standards and for establishing our authority over the last piece of land or the last drop of the sea replaced vision. Bureaucracy took over our imagination and the principle that the Sea belongs to everybody and nobody.
Needless to say that this blog has nothing to do with the Law of the Sea. Yet it has something to do with International Law and other stuff.
