The Mediterranean as an 'Enclosed Sea' in the new law of the sea.

Abstract

The advent of worldwide exploration in the sixteenth century, and the increase of colonial claims that followed made it necessary to resolve two of the main conflicting philosophies of ocean use national ownership (1), and freedom of movement (2). Given the inability of any nation to enforce its claims of ownership to whole oceans and the need for all colonial powers to have free access to their overseas territories, it is perhaps not surprising that freedom of movement as propounded in the writings of the Dutch jurist, Hugo Grotius became generally accepted and considered as the starting point of modern ocean law. His philosophy is summarised in the following words: The sea, since it is incapable of being seized like the air, cannot be attached to the possession of any particular nation.