MODERN INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE SEA AND THE NIGERIAN MARITIME COASTAL WATERS

Abstract

Maritime law is one of the oldest branches of international law. Even before the emergence of the current state system and what we may call modern international law, the sea has been under the search-light of earlier international lawyers. Authentic schools of thought were developed in the area of the law of the sea, some of whom actually laid the foundations of present-day international law. Ott summed up the situation of the law of the sea throughout history when he wrote: ‘From its beginnings the law of the sea has been strongly influenced by the interplay of technology and politics, or to put it another way, by the ability (or lack of ability) to exercise physical control over the oceans coupled with the political determination to pursue national interests there. The law of the sea has therefore often reflected the limits which technology has placed on the exercise of state power, and ,as one might expect ,technological progress has confronted the law with the problem of state authority continually expanding into areas that were once thought beyond national control.