Law of the sea

Law of the sea is a body of international law governing the rights and duties of states in maritime environments.^[1] It concerns matters such as navigational rights, sea mineral claims, and coastal waters jurisdiction.

While drawn from a number of international customs, treaties, and agreements, modern law of the sea derives largely from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), effective since 1994, which is generally accepted as a codification of customary international law of the sea, and is sometimes regarded as the "constitution of the oceans".^[2][3]

Law of the sea is the public law counterpart to admiralty law (also known as maritime law), which applies to private maritime issues, such as the carriage of goods by sea, rights of salvage, ship collisions, and marine insurance.