The course aims at offering an overview of the main questions that the peculiar conditions of the Poles, radically different from one another, pose from the perspective of the law of the sea. The course describes the contested and "frozen" maritime claims in the Antarctic, the Antarctic Treaty System, and the most pressing challenges for the governance of the region (including with regards to the potential applicability of new legally-binding instruments). 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 - and 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.