Political and Commercial Interests as Influences in the Development of the Doctrine of the Freedom of the High Seas

Abstract

The doctrine of the freedom of the high seas has been described as the most fundamental doctrine of the law of the sea. It has even been referred to as a general or fundamental principle of international law. The doctrine was codified in the 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas and is now encapsulated in Part VII of Law of the Sea Convention of 1982 (LOSC) albeit not as an absolute freedom. This 'freedom' however, was not always held to be sacrosanct amongst civilised nations as a study of European history will reveal. Indeed when Mare Liberum was anonymously published in 1608, it espoused a view not widely held in the European community. At varying times Spain, Portugal, England and the Scandinavian countries, had all sought to impose their sovereignty over parts of the seas.6 It has been said that the doctrine of the freedom of the seas came into the world somewhat as a bombshell.