Freedom of the Seas History
Introduction to Freedom of the Seas History
During the Middle Ages, freedom of navigation on the high seas was curtailed by maritime powers that asserted territorial sovereignty over various bodies of water. Challenges by other countries to such claims increased markedly during the 16th and 17th centuries, largely because of the growth in world trade following the discovery, exploration, and colonization of new lands.
The legal basis for claims of territorial sovereignty over the high seas was dealt a severe blow by the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius, regarded as the father of international law. Grotius, on the basis of Roman legal principle, contended in his Mare Liberum (Free Sea, 1609) that the seas cannot constitute property because they cannot be occupied in the sense in which land can be occupied and that they are therefore free to all nations and subject to none. In the 18th century, the Dutch jurist Cornelius van Bynkershoek formulated the important principle of international law that the waters adjoining the shores of a country within the range of artillery on land are not included in the juridical meaning of the term high seas but are under the territorial sovereignty of the contiguous country. This principle was subsequently adopted throughout the world. A distance of 3 nautical mi (5.556 km) was generally accepted, but this limit was challenged in the 20th century, many countries claiming a limit of 6 nautical mi (11.112 km) or even 12 nautical mi (22.224 km).
In the late 18th century, several attempts to curtail free navigation on the high seas were made by such powers as Great Britain, which in time of war sought to stop all trade of other nations with its enemies. A notable example of the assumption of such rights was the British blockade of western European ports during the Napoleonic Wars. Another instance was the molestation by the British of U.S. shipping on the high seas, which was one of the direct causes of the War of 1812.
Controversy over the conflicting rights of neutrals and belligerents occupied a prominent place in international affairs throughout the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century. The Declaration of Paris of 1856, signed during the Crimean War by Britain and France and later accepted by most other powers, increased freedom of the seas for neutrals. The Declaration of London of 1909 resulted from an international naval conference convened to resolve certain questions regarding trade and contraband raised at the second Hague Conference; however, although it further defined neutral rights, it was never ratified.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Freedom of the Seas History in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
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