The course will analyze the law of maritime delimitations and the relevant case law of international courts and tribunals, including by organizing moot court exercises in class. Such exercises will be conducted building upon a comprehensive overview of the rules related to the peaceful settlement of inter-State martitime disputes.
Further, the course will analyze the law and policy applicable in selected marine regions of the world, as well as the particular geographic conditions that have resulted in specific delimitation and environmental agreements. For each region, a legal overview will be provided of the relevant coastal States' status and the frameworks regulating the maritime domain. For example, with regards to the Arctic Ocean, title to territory is hardly a major issue (nevertheless, the course will address the legal status of the Svalbard archipelago, Greenland, Sverdrup Islands). The most difficult and pressing issues of international law in the Arctic concern the maritime domain. Accordingly, the course will focus on: the relevant maritime boundaries, including the difficult question of the Beaufort Sea; the extended continental shelves claimed by the Arctic States; Arctic Straits, including a legal analysis of navigation through the “Northwest Passage” (through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago) and the “Northern Sea Route” (along the Russian coast); future shipping routes and coastal States navigational policies; submarine voyages; and marine environmental protection, with a focus on the impacts of climate change.