How to Find Materials on Public International Law for Research and Education

5. Law of the Sea

1. General
2. Treaties and Related Documents
3. Travaux préparatoires
4. Commentaries
5. International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
6. International Organizations (IGOs)
7. State Practice
8. Domestic Laws Compilations
9. Bibliographies
10. Periodicals
11. Nongovernmental Organizations, Private Research Centers

1. General

In addition to chapters on the law of the sea of principal textbooks on international law, the following books specialized in the law of the sea are useful. The first three publications include detailed bibliographies.:

Gidel, G., Droit international public de la mer, 4 vols., Sirey, 1932-1934.
O'Connell, D. P., The International Law of the Sea, 2 vols., Oxford UP, 1984.
Dupuy, René-Jean. and Vignes, Danie. (eds.), A Handbook on the New Law of the Sea, 2 vols., Martinus Nijhoff, 1991.
- English translation of Traité du nouveau droit de la mer, Economica, 1985
Churchill, Robin R. and Lowe, A. V., The Law of the Sea, 3rd ed., Manchester UP, 1999.
Lucchini, Laurent. et Michel, Vœckel., Droit de la mer, 2 vols., Pedone, 1990-1996.
Graf Vitzthum, Wolfgang., Handbuch des Seerechts, Beck, 2006.

2. Treaties and Related Documents

-> 1. Practice

The Convention and the related agreements: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm

3. Travaux préparatoires

League of Nations

Acts of the Conference for the Codification of International Law, (LN. doc. C.351.M.145, 1930, V.)
Report of the Second Commission, League of Nations Publication V. Legal, 1930.V. 9 (C.230, M. I 17, 1930. V)

Four 1958 Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea ->ILC ->Yearbook ILC

United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea: Official Records

Official Records of the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, Geneva, 24 February-27 April 1958, 7 vols.:
http://untreaty.un.org/cod/diplomaticconferences/lawofthesea-1958/lawofthesea-1958.html
Official Records of the the Second United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, Geneva, 17 March-26 April 1960, 1962, 2 vols.:
http://untreaty.un.org/cod/diplomaticconferences/lawofthesea-1960/lawofthesea-1960.html
Official Records of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, New York : United Nations, 1975-1984, 17 vols.:
http://untreaty.un.org/cod/diplomaticconferences/lawofthesea-1982/lawofthesea-1982.html

Privately edited travaux préparatoires, including numerous unpublished documents (limited documents, mimeos).

Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea: Documents, compiled and edited by Renate Platzoder, Oceana Publications, 1982-1995, 18 vols., Index 2 vols.
The Law of the Sea Documents 1983-1989: Preparatory Commission for the International Sea-Bed Authority & for the International Tribunal by Renate Platzoder.

4. Commentary

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

John Norton Moore, Project Director; Myron H. Nordquist, Series Editor-in-chief; Satya N. Nandan and Shabtai Rosenne, General Editors, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary, 6 Vols.

5. International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

http://www.itlos.org/ ->International Tribunal

6. Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

United Nations: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm
IMO: http://www.imo.org/ (click: "legal")
IWC: http://iwcoffice.org/

7. State Practice

United Nations Legislative Series: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm
Law of The Sea Bulletin (-> Periodicals and Yearbooks)
United Nations Publications prepared by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/doalos_publications/doalos_publications.htm
United Nations System Pathfinder, Law of the Sea: http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/pathfind/lawint/0702.htm

8. Domestic Laws Compilations

United Nations Legislative Series: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm
Law of The Sea Bulletin (-> Periodicals and Yearbooks)
United Nations Publications prepared by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/doalos_publications/doalos_publications.htm
Japanese law

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/index.html

Maritime Affairs: http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/maritime/index.html

Japan Coast Guard: http://www.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/e/index_e.htm
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force: http://www.mod.go.jp/msdf/formal/english/index.html

9. Bibliographies

Bibliographies compiled by the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea

CD-ROM: 35-Year Law of the Sea Bibliography, 1967-2002
Print -- annual: The Law of the Sea: A Select Bibliography. 1985-date
Print - two-volume set: The Law of the Sea: A Bibliography on the Law of the Sea, 1968-1988: Two Decades of Law-making, State Practice and Doctrine.

Select Bibliography on Settlement of Disputes Concerning the Law of the Sea (1996-), from the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea: http://www.pict-pcti.org/courts/bibliographies/ITLOS.pdf
Nikos Papadakis, International Law of the Sea: A Bibliography, (Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1980)
Nikos Papadakis, Martin Glassner, International Law of the Sea and Marine Affairs: A Bibliography, Supplement to the 1980 edition, (M. Nijhoff, 1984).

10. Periodicals

United Nations

United Nations Publications prepared by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/doalos_publications/doalos_publications.htm
Law of the Sea Bulletin, v. 1, 1983-date: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/doalos_publications/los_bult.htm

Others

International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, 1993-date. (continues International Journal of Estuarine and Coastal Law. v. 1-7, 1986-92)
International Organizations and the Law of the Sea: Documentary Yearbook, v. 1, 1985-date.
Marine Policy, 1978-date.
Ocean and Coastal Law Journal, 1994-date.
Ocean Development and International Law, 1973-date.
Annuaire du droit de la mer, 1996-date.

11. Nongovernmental Organizations, Private Research Centers

Center for Oceans Law and Policy: http://www.virginia.edu/colp/index.html
Institut du droit économique de la mer: http://www.indemer.org/