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International maritime law
UNCLOS does not give a single statutory definition of “stateless” vessels but treats ships “without nationality” as those not entitled to fly a State’s flag or assimilated to that condition when flyin...
The United States relies primarily on maritime law-enforcement statutes (notably the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act and related statutes such as the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act) and bi...
International law treats a naval blockade as an act of war governed by longstanding treaties and custom: it must be declared, effectively enforced and applied impartially, and in peacetime a blockade ...
International maritime law does not on its own create a general power to forfeit a seized tanker; rather, nation-states rely on domestic statutes, admiralty procedure and special arrangements to conve...
UNCLOS makes the flag state the primary authority over ships on the high seas and permits other states only narrow, named exceptions for boarding and seizure—chiefly piracy, slave trade, unauthorized ...
U.S. strikes on vessels linked to Venezuela have been defended as lawful counter-narcotics and self‑defense actions by the White House and Pentagon, but multiple legal authorities — UN experts, academ...
Since 1986 the United States has built a legal architecture for high‑seas drug interdiction centered on the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) and related statutes, supplemented by internationa...
The principal UN instruments that frame interdiction and the use of force against suspected smuggling vessels are the 2000 United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and i...
UNCLOS explicitly allows boarding and other enforcement against stateless vessels on the high seas, while coastal-state enforcement powers inside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are more limited and...
State practice on stateless ships is uneven: some states and commentators treat unflagged vessels as lawful targets for boarding and even seizure, while other authorities stress that UNCLOS and custom...
After 2020, the UN Charter still authorizes use of force at sea primarily under Security Council Chapter VII measures (Articles 41–42) and the inherent right of self‑defence under Article 51; States a...
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has repeatedly affirmed that coastal States must allow innocent passage of foreign ships but may act against passages that are not “innocent,”...
U.S. courts have treated seizures of oil tankers and their cargo as civil admiralty in rem actions that require a warrant, proof of maritime nexus and location, and a forfeiture process open to owner ...
International law treats a vessel that lacks a genuine national registration as "without nationality" or stateless, permitting other States a limited right to board and inspect on the high seas; that ...
There is no single international tribunal ruling that cleanly and exhaustively defines when a vessel is “stateless” under UNCLOS; instead, tribunals and arbitral bodies have left significant space for...
Since 2020 national courts and states have justified vessel seizures by invoking domestic statutes (forfeiture, sanctions, and drug laws) and narrow exceptions in the law of the sea; tribunals such as...
Flag states normally hold primary jurisdiction over a vessel on the high seas and bear duties under UNCLOS and IMO instruments to police registry, safety and pollution compliance (see duties under Art...
UNCLOS sets the baseline definitions and jurisdictional rules for piracy and the limits of states’ powers at sea, while the 1988 SUA Convention (and its 2005 Protocol) criminalize a broader set of unl...
The core claim is that UNCLOS authorizes boarding and inspection of on the high seas and provides a basis for enforcement against drug trafficking, while national laws like the U.S. Maritime Drug Law ...
Foreign warships generally may not lawfully use force against suspected drug-smuggling boats inside another state's territorial waters except with that state's consent or under narrow exceptions; inte...