Jurisdiction of States over Persons at Sea: Principles, Issues, Consequences

This chapter proposes to sketch the legal framework concerning jurisdiction of States over people at sea and to address some critical issues emerging from such examination. After briefly illustrating the complexities of jurisdiction at sea, the chapter will set out the basic principles and rules for determining which State has jurisdiction over persons at sea. This examination will concern rules of public international law allocating jurisdiction among States and will not deal with the jurisdiction of domestic courts to hear cases, except as far as this is a consequence of rules of public international law, nor with issues of solving conflicts of jurisdiction, these being settled by private international law. Building on these principles, it will address some critical issues that need to be explored, pointing towards fields where a doctrinal elaboration or a legislative intervention would be desirable. Finally, and since establishing jurisdiction is just the prelude to further rights or obligations, it will briefly present, by way of conclusion, some considerations on the consequences that the existence of jurisdiction has for States.