International Straits: Concept, Classification and Rules of Passage

摘要

Straits and their regulatory framework have long been a matter of controversy. Ambiguity characterised the few rules that existed prior to the adoption of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC); the LOSC subsequently brought a sense of uniformity and generality. However, being the result of opposed interests and compromises, the LOSC is incomplete and, as a result of subsequent practice, those rules that were agreed upon have been the subject of either evolution or crystallization.