The book, The Law of the Sea, with an Introduction by Professor U.N. Gupta, is designed to meet the needs and requirements of scholars of International Law and International Relations; professionals engaged in merchant shipping or connected with naval forces and the policy makers of different States who want to know about national interests in the seas, among others. Necessarily, the book presents in depth the various forms and aspects of human interests involved when the States do or do not have a sea coast. This study encompasses a period of about six centuries and is dotted with conflict of claims made by kings and states from time to time, various mutual understandings made, treaties or conventions signed by them, or customary international law relating to the sea as it gradually developed by consensus or by sufferance. The sea has provided an easy method of navigation for trade or empire building purposes. The various parts of the sea, like bays, gulfs or territorial sea got defined in the process. This part of the law of sea which is history-based and mainly customary has been included in the Introduction part of the book. With the technological advancements made for winning the Second World War, the victorious powers saw the vast economic potential for exploitation presented to them by the widespread ocean wealth. This capability and future prospects gave Copernican turn to customary law of the sea as it was till the end of Second World War. The new competitive wave set in motion by the two unilateral Proclamations by the USA in 1945 resulted in the overhauling of the law of sea by the four 1958 Geneva Conventions on the Law of Sea. The Introduction and the Appendices to the book give the rationale, substance and the texts of these developments. These also lead to various international understands, conventions and treaties made for peaceful uses of the seas by the States. The important use of the seas for extraction of sea wealth gave rise to further demands on the law of sea in 1960s and 1970s leading to the III United Nations Conferences on the Law of Sea. The culminated comprehensive 1981 UN Convention on the Law of Sea after long drawn consensus procedures by all the States of the world, coastal or non-coastal, is in various ways studied in the book and the text of 1981 Convention on the Law of Sea has been included in its Appendices.

Table of Contents:
Introduction LAW OF SEA CONVENTION, 1982 Part - I Introduction Part - II Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone Part - III Straits Used for International Navigation Part - IV Archipelagic State Part - V Exclusive Economic Zone Part - VI Continental Shelf Part - VII High Seas Part - VIII Regime of Islands Part - IX Enclosed or Semi-Enclosed Seas Part - X Right of Access of Landlocked States to and from the Sea and Freedom of Transit Part - XI The Area Part - XII Protection and Preservation of the Marine Environment Part - XIII Marine Scientific Research Part - XIV Development and Transfer of Marine Technology Part - XV Settlement of Disputes Part - XVI General Provisions Part - XVII Final Provisions