Abstract

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) came into effect on November 16, 1994, more than ten years after it was concluded in December 1982, and after more than nine years of previous negotiations. There is no doubt that its conclusion represented an outstanding achievement of international law. The 320 Articles and 9 Annexes have been hailed as the modern constitution of the oceans, and the famous ‘package deal’ that it represented addressed many of the problematic issues that conventions had been unable to settle. It proclaimed a new agenda for the oceans, ocean regulation, and ocean space, with a number of innovative concepts such as exclusive economic zone, archipelagic status, and the deep seabed; it embraced new obligations, such as protection of the marine environment.

This chapter introduces the collection, reviewing the history of the 1982 Convention, and introducing key themes about how the Convention functions: integrity of the law; contextual application of the law, progressive development of the law, and adapting to meet new challenges.