The Legal Regime of Straits
Contemporary Challenges and Solutions

An account of the legal regime of straits and the allocation of rights and duties relating to transit passage.

Hugo Caminos (Author), Vincent P. Cogliati-Bantz (Author)

9781107003767, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 December 2014

530 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2.7 cm, 0.97 kg

'[This] book … will no doubt stimulate further studies of the topic of international straits. With recent developments focusing the world's attention on situations in the Arctic and the South China Sea, among others, an updated analysis of the regimes of international straits and archipelagic waters, such as the book under review, is most welcome. Such a study may also assume great practical value for decision-makers concerned with those situations, and may provide helpful legal insights for future solutions based in the international law of the sea. The valuable contribution made by this book to law of the sea studies will of course go beyond those specific situations.' Bing Bing Jia, The British Yearbook of International Law

The right of transit passage in straits and the analogous right of archipelagic sealanes passage in archipelagic states, negotiated in the 1970s and embodied in the 1982 UNCLOS, sought to approximate the freedom of navigation and overflight while expressly recognising the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the coastal state over the waters concerned. However, the allocation of rights and duties of the coastal state and third states is open to interpretation. Recent developments in state practice, such as Australia's requirement of compulsory pilotage in the Torres Strait, the bridge across the Great Belt and the proposals for a bridge across the Strait of Messina, the enhanced environmental standards applicable in the Strait of Bonifacio and Canada's claims over the Arctic Route, make it necessary to reassess the whole common law of straits. The Legal Regime of Straits examines the complex relationship between the coastal state and the international community.

Introduction
Part I. Law of Peace and Law of War: 1.1. General
1.2. Treaty regimes
1.3. A law of war for straits?
Part II. Right of Transit Passage Ratione Loci: Straits Used for International Navigation: 2. Applicability of the right of transit passage under UNCLOS Part III – Exclusions: 3. Applicability of the right of transit under Part III – straits used for international navigation defined
Part III. Right of Transit Ratione Materiae: Definition of Transit Passage: 4. Transit passage and other passage rights
5. Transit passage defined
Part IV. Allocation of Jurisdiction over the Right of Transit Passage and Archipelagic Sea Lanes Passage: 6. Sovereignty of states bordering straits and archipelagic states
7. Limitations to the sovereignty of states bordering straits and archipelagic states: rights and duties of coastal states
8. Duties of ships and aircraft in transit
9. Striking a balance between the sovereignty of states bordering straits and the right of transit
Part V. International Co-operation for the Safety of Navigation and the Prevention, Reduction and Control of Pollution in Straits: 10. Preliminary remarks and genesis of Article 43 of the UNCLOS
11. Scope of Article 43: interpretation and suggested implementation
12. Co-operative schemes: the special case of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore
Part VI. Multiple Regimes for Straits?
13. UNCLOS as general framework
14. Marine Protected Areas
Part VII. Conclusion: 15. Straits and dispute settlement
16. Transit passage and customary law
17. Concluding remarks.

Subject Areas: Public international law [LBB], Law [L], International relations [JPS]