Street's Law Of The Sea

Question 1

Internal waters

Answer 1

Landward of the baseline from which territorial seas are measured

Question 2

Territorial seas

Answer 2

Belt of ocean measured seaward up to 12 nautical miles from the baseline of the coastal nation and subject to its sovereignty. Ships enjoy the right of innocent passage in territorial sea but this does not include aircraft overflight of territorial seas

Question 3

Contiguous zone

Answer 3

Area extending seaward from baseline up to 24nm in which the coastal nation may exercise the control necessary to prevent or punish infringement of customs, fiscal, immigration, and sanitary laws and regulations that occur within its territory. Ships enjoy high seas freedoms including overflight in this zone

Question 4

Exclusive economic zone

Answer 4

Resource-related zone adjacent to the territorial sea where a state has certain sovereign rights and may not extend beyond 200nm from the baseline.

Question 5

High seas

Answer 5

Includes all parts of the ocean seaward of the EEZ.
All ships and aircraft, including warships and military aircraft, enjoy complete freedom of movement and operation on and over the high sea

Question 6

Military aircraft

Answer 6

Enjoy sovereign immunity from foreign search and inspection

Subject to the right of transit passage, archipelagic sea lanes passage, and entry in distress, state aircraft may not enter national airspace or land on sovereign territory without that nations authorization.

Foreign officials may not enter the aircraft without Aircraft commander permission

Question 7

Innocent passage

Answer 7

Continuous and expeditious traversing of the territorial sea or for proceeding to or from internal waters. Passage shall not be prejudicial to peace and good order, or security of the coastal nation

Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order, or security of the coastal nation. Activities considered to be prejudicial to the peace, good order, or security of the coastal nation, and therefore inconsistent with innocent passage, are:
-Any threat or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of the coastal nation, or in any other manner in violation of the principles of international
-The launching, landing, or taking on board of any aircraft

-Innocent passage does not include a right of overflight.

Question 8

Assistance entry

Answer 8

-All ship and aircraft commanders have an obligation to assist those in danger of being lost at sea.

-Permits assistance entry into the territorial sea by ships or, under certain circumstances, aircraft without permission of the coastal nation to engage in bona fide efforts to render emergency assistance to those in danger or distress at sea.

-This right applies only when the location of the danger or distress is reasonably well known. It does not extend to entering the territorial sea or superjacent airspace to conduct a search, which requires the consent of the coastal nation.

Bona fide efforts
Location well known
Not a search

Question 9

Archipelago sea lanes passage

Answer 9

Exercising freedom of navigation and overflight for the continuous and expeditious transit through archipelagic waters in normal operating modes of ships and aircraft

Required to remain within 25nm either side of the axis line and must approach no closer to the coastline than 10 % the distance between points on islands bordering the sea lane and axis line

Question 10

Asylum

Answer 10

Protection and sanctuary granted by the US gov within its territorial jurisdiction or in international waters to a foreign nation who applies for such protection because of persecution or fear of persecution on account of race, religion etc. this is a higher authority decision

Under no circumstances will a person seeking asylum in U.S. territory or in international waters be surrendered by the Navy or Marine Corps to foreign jurisdiction or control, unless at the personal direction of the Secretary of the Navy or higher authority.

Commanders of U.S. warships, military aircraft, and military installations in territories under foreign jurisdiction are not authorized to receive on board foreign nationals seeking asylum.

Such persons should be referred to the American Embassy or nearest U.S. consulate in the country, foreign territory, or foreign possession involved, if any, for assistance in coordinating a request for asylum with the host government insofar as practicable

Question 11

Temporary refuge

Answer 11

Protection afforded for humanitarian reasons to a foreign national in a DOD installation or vessel within territorial jurisdiction of a foreign nation under conditions of urgency in order to secure the life and safety of that person against imminent danger, such as pursuit by mob. The officer in command of the ship or aircraft must decide which measures can prudently be taken to provide temporary refuge…

Once a Navy or Marine Corps unit has granted temporary refuge, protection may be terminated only when directed by the Secretary of the Navy or higher authority.

-U.S. armed forces personnel shall neither directly nor indirectly invite persons to seek asylum or temporary refuge.

Question 12

Right of approach and visit

Answer 12

A warship or military aircraft may approach a vessel in international waters to verify its nationality. Unless it is a vessel of another foreign military it may be stopped, boarded and examines if there is reasonable suspicion of:

1. Engaged in piracy
2. Engages in the slave trade
3. Engaged in unauthorized broadcasting
4. Without nationality
5. Though flying a foreign flag, or refusing to show its flag, is the same nationality as the warship

Question 13

Posse Comitatus

Answer 13

A force to aid civilian law enforcement authorities in keeping peace and arresting felons, or otherwise to execute domestic law is prohibited unless expressly authorized by the constitution or act of Congress.

Question 14

Warning shots

Answer 14

To warn offending vessel to stop or maneuver does not constitute a use of force

Under international law, warning shots do not constitute a use of force.

Question 15

Disabling fire

Answer 15

Used of warning shots go unheeded and you fire into the non complaint vessels rudder, engine room, to stop it

Question 16

Right of self defense

Answer 16

Use of force rests upon two elements:

1. Necessity: requirement that a use of force be in response to a hostile act or demo of hostile intent
2. Proportionality: use of force is limited in intensity, duration and scope to that which is reasonably required to counter the attack or threat of attack and ensure continued safety of US Forces

Question 17

Anticipatory self-defense

Answer 17

Inherent right to protect itself from imminent attack and no reasonable choice of peaceful means is available.

International law recognizes that it would be contrary to the purposes of UN Charter if a threatened nation were required to absorb an aggressor’s initial and potentially crippling first strike before taking the measures necessary to thwart an imminent attack.

Question 18

DOD Legal assistance in Domestic Law

Answer 18

Some activities to aid civil law enforcement may be authorized under the military purpose act. Congress has specifically authorized the limited use of military to assist in DIO and in certain circumstances counter terrorism ops

Question 19

Universal Principle

Answer 19

This principle recognizes that certain offenses are so heinous and so widely condemned that any nation may apprehend, prosecute, and punish that offender on behalf of the world community regardless of the nationality of the offender or victim.

Piracy, slave trade, genocide, etc.

Question 20

FOREIGN INTERNAL WATERS, ARCHIPELAGIC WATERS, AND TERRITORIAL SEAS

Answer 20

-Unlawful acts of violence directed against U.S. flag vessels and aircraft and U.S. nationals within and over the internal waters, archipelagic waters, or territorial seas of a foreign nation present special considerations. The coastal nation is primarily responsible for the protection of all vessels, aircraft, and persons lawfully within its sovereign territory.

-However, when that nation is unable or unwilling to do so effectively or when the circumstances are such that immediate action is required to protect human life, international law recognizes the right of another nation to direct its warships and military aircraft to use proportionate force in or over those waters to protect its flag vessels, its flag aircraft, and its nationals.

Question 21

ADIZ

Answer 21

-International law does not prohibit nations from establishing air defense identification zones (ADIZ) in the international airspace adjacent to their territorial airspace. The legal basis for ADIZ regulations is the right of a nation to establish reasonable conditions of entry into its territory.

-U.S. military aircraft not intending to enter national airspace should not identify themselves or otherwise comply with ADIZ procedures established by other nations, unless the United States has specifically agreed to do so.

Question 22

Flight Information Region

Answer 22

-A Flight Information Region (FIR) is a defined area of airspace within which flight information and alerting services are provided. Ordinarily, but only as a matter of policy, U.S. military aircraft on routine point-to-point flights through international airspace follow ICAO flight procedures and utilize FIR services.

U.S. military aircraft not intending to enter national airspace should not identify themselves or otherwise comply with FIR procedures established by other nations, unless the United States has specifically agreed to do so. When U.S. military aircraft do not follow ICAO flight procedures, they must navigate with “due regard” for civil aviation safety.

Question 23

International Airspace

Answer 23

All international airspace is open to the aircraft of all nations.

-Military aircraft are free to operate in international airspace without interference from coastal nation authorities. Military aircraft may engage in flight operations, including ordnance testing and firing, surveillance and intelligence gathering, and support of other naval activities.

-All such activities must be conducted with due regard for the rights of other nations and the safety of other aircraft and of vessels.

Question 24

National Airspace

Answer 24

-Under international law, every nation has complete and exclusive sovereignty over its national airspace, that is, the airspace above its territory, its internal waters, its territorial sea, and, in the case of an archipelagic nation, its archipelagic waters.

There is no right of innocent passage of aircraft through the airspace over the territorial sea or archipelagic waters analogous to the right of innocent passage enjoyed by ships of all nations.

-Foreign aircraft wishing to enter national airspace must identify themselves, seek or confirm permission to land or to transit, and must obey all reasonable orders to land, turn back, or fly a prescribed course and/or altitude.

-Customary international law recognizes that foreign State aircraft in distress, including military aircraft, are entitled to enter national airspace and to make emergency landings without prior coastal nation permission.

Question 25

Declared Security and Defense Zones

Answer 25

-As a general rule, international law does not recognize the peacetime right of any nation to restrict the navigation and overflight of foreign warships and military aircraft beyond its territorial sea.

-Although several coastal nations have asserted claims that purport to prohibit warships and military aircraft from operating in so-called security zones extending beyond the territorial sea, such claims have no basis in international law in time of peace, and are not recognized by the United States.

Question 26

High Seas Freedoms and Warning Areas

Answer 26

Ships and aircraft of other nations are not required to remain outside a declared warning area, but are obliged to refrain from interfering with activities therein.

-Ships and aircraft of one nation may operate in a warning area within international waters and airspace declared by another nation, collect intelligence and observe the activities involved, subject to the requirement of due regard for the rights of the declaring nation to use international waters and airspace for such lawful purposes.

Question 27

International Straits Overflight

Answer 27

All aircraft, including military aircraft, enjoy the right of unimpeded transit passage through the airspace above international straits overlapped by territorial seas. Such transits must be continuous and expeditious, and the aircraft involved must refrain from the threat or the use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of the nation or nations bordering the strait.

-The exercise of the right of overflight by aircraft engaged in the transit passage of international straits cannot be impeded or suspended in peacetime for any purpose.

Question 28

Transit Passage

Answer 28

Straits that are used for international navigation between one part of the high seas, exclusive economic zone or territorial waters and another are subject to transit passage.

-Transit passage exists throughout the entire strait (shoreline-to-shoreline) and not just the area overlapped by the territorial sea of the coastal nation(s).

-Under international law, the ships and aircraft of all nations, including warships, auxiliary vessels, and military aircraft, enjoy the right of unimpeded transit passage through such straits and their approaches.

-Transit passage - is defined as the exercise of the freedoms of navigation and overflight solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit in the normal modes of operation utilized by ships and aircraft for such passage.

Ships and aircraft, while exercising the right of transit passage, shall: (a) proceed without delay through or over the strait; (b) refrain from any threat or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of States bordering the strait and, (c) refrain from any activities other than those incident to their normal modes of continuous and expeditious transit unless rendered necessary by force majeure or by distress.

Transit passage through international straits cannot be hampered or suspended by the coastal nation for any purpose during peacetime. This principle of international law also applies to transiting ships (including warships) of nations at peace with the bordering coastal nation but involved in armed conflict with another nation.

Question 29

Sovereign Immunity

Answer 29

As a matter of customary international law, all vessels owned or operated by a state, and used, for the time being, only on government noncommercial service are entitled to sovereign immunity. This means that such vessels are immune from arrest or search, whether in national or international waters.