Original scientific paper
Case of the historical bay with reference to the claim of the Republic of Slovenia to the Savudria bay
Petra Perišić
; Faculty of law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
Historical bays are those bays over which a coastal state, contrary to the general rules of international law, clearly, effectively, continually and over a long period of time exercises sovereignty, and it does this with the approval of other countries. These parts of the sea do not fall under the regime of the open sea, which would be the case according to the general rules of international law, but are considered part of the internal sea waters of the coastal state. The most recent codified documents of the Law of the Sea, the 1958 Convention on Territorial Sea and the External Zone and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, have recognized the existence of historical bays, but they failed to regulate this question, thus leaving it in the domain of common law. A review of the case law of states shows that there are a certain number of historical bays in the world for which coastal states have laid claims on the basis of historical title. For states making such claims it was extremely difficult to prove the existence of long-term, continual rule over these bays, and especially to prove that this rule was not opposed by third states. This has led to situations in which practically every claim to historical bays was opposed by one or several states. It is, therefore, questionable whether in practice a coastal state might win this claim on the basis of historical title and get third states to renounce navigation and fishing rights in those parts of the sea which are claimed on the basis of historical title. Besides, the recognition of new legal regimes on the sea has helped to promote the protection of coastal countries' interests. Because of this, it is questionable whether future claims on historical bays will be approved, and also whether the notion of historical bays as such is still useful and necessary.
Keywords
international law of the sea; historical bays
Hrčak ID:
62997
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2010.
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