This book is devoted to an examination of the legal status of govern ment merchant ships while on the high seas or in the waters of foreign states in time of peace. The object of this examination is to ascertain whether there is any rule of international law which accords such a ship a higher status than that of private merchant ships. Whether government merchant ships, unlike private ships, are entitled to certain immunities from the jurisdiction of foreign states is the question that we have set out to answer in this book. A discussion of the rules concerning the nationality of such a ship or the jurisdiction of the flag state over her does not find a place in this work. A government merchant ship may be defined as a merchant ship l owned or operated by a state. Immunity of a ship here means the exemption of a government ship from the jurisdiction of any state other than the flag state. This term also connotes the immunity of the flag state from the jurisdiction of the tribunals of foreign states in respect of proceedings connected with such a ship. Immunity of persons means the exemption of persons in the service of a govern ment ship, or other persons on board her, from the jurisdiction of any state other than the flag state.

In a period of growing tensions within the maritime domain, this timely new book brings together a combination of academic and practical expertise to present an account of the critical areas of the law of naval warfare. It provides a comprehensive, academically rigorous and practically relevant treatment of the law applicable to naval conflicts that will be of value to governments and their advisers, defence forces, academics, students and historians. The extensive expert analysis of the key issues includes topics such as: ¿ Interaction with peacetime law of the sea ¿ Maritime zones ¿ Targeting, distinction and deception ¿ Submarine warfare ¿ Legal status of merchant vessels and direct participation in hostilities by civilians ¿ Blockade ¿ Prize law ¿ Non-International Armed Conflict at Sea ¿ New technologies and non-traditional vessels ¿ Hospital ships ¿ Intelligence collection ¿ Interaction with Australian domestic legal obligations ¿ Environmental issues

This book is devoted to an examination of the legal status of govern ment merchant ships while on the high seas or in the waters of foreign states in time of peace. The object of this examination is to ascertain whether there is any rule of international law which accords such a ship a higher status than that of private merchant ships. Whether government merchant ships, unlike private ships, are entitled to certain immunities from the jurisdiction of foreign states is the question that we have set out to answer in this book. A discussion of the rules concerning the nationality of such a ship or the jurisdiction of the flag state over her does not find a place in this work. A government merchant ship may be defined as a merchant ship l owned or operated by a state. Immunity of a ship here means the exemption of a government ship from the jurisdiction of any state other than the flag state. This term also connotes the immunity of the flag state from the jurisdiction of the tribunals of foreign states in respect of proceedings connected with such a ship. Immunity of persons means the exemption of persons in the service of a govern ment ship, or other persons on board her, from the jurisdiction of any state other than the flag state.

This Supplement to the seven-volume series United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, A Commentary, prepared at the University of Virginia’s Center for Oceans Law and Policy, contains additional primary documents and materials directly related to the Convention.

Xiaodong Yang examines the issue of jurisdictional immunities of States and their property in foreign domestic courts.

The principal aim of this book is to address the international legal questions arising from the 'right of visit on the high seas' in the twenty-first century. This right is considered the most significant exception to the fundamental principle of the freedom of the high seas (the freedom, in peacetime, to remain free of interference by ships of another flag). It is this freedom that has been challenged by a recent significant increase in interceptions to counter the threats of international terrorism and WMD proliferation, or to suppress transnational organised crime at sea, particularly the trafficking of narcotics and smuggling of migrants. The author questions whether the principle of non-interference has been so significantly curtailed as to have lost its relevance in the contemporary legal order of the oceans. The book begins with an historical and theoretical examination of the framework underlying interception. This historical survey informs the remainder of the work, which then looks at the legal framework of the right of visit, contemporary challenges to the traditional right, interference on the high seas for the maintenance of international peace and security, interferences to maintain the 'bon usage' of the oceans (navigation and fishing), piracy j'ure gentium'and current counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia, the problems posed by illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, interdiction operations to counter drug and people trafficking, and recent interception operations in the Mediterranean Sea organised by FRONTEX.