Submarines in International Law

Author: Natalie Klein; Kate Purcell; Jack McNally
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781009463423
Published In: May 2026
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents

Details

Submarines in International Law is the first book to explore both the legal history and the contemporary regulation of submarine operations in varied areas of international law.

The analysis demonstrates the instances where submarines influenced the development of the law of the sea and the law of armed conflict, as well as highlighting where international law needs to give greater account for submarines in existing bodies of law-including international marine environmental law, the law on the use of force, navigational safety rules, transnational criminal law and international cultural heritage law. Submarine operations range from military and defence uses, to supporting research and commercial seabed industries, to ocean tourism and smuggling of illicit goods. International law regulates all these activities to varying degrees. While submarines may strive to be evasive objects in the ocean, this book demonstrates why they cannot and should not elude the reach of international law.

1. Introducing submarines in international law

Part I. A Legal History of Submarines:

2. The rise of the submarine: belligerency, neutrality and emerging laws of passage in World war I

3. Regulating submarines in the inter-war period from Versailles (1919) to The Hague (1930)

4. The impact of the second Sino Japanese war and World War II

5. The post-war settlement, the early cold war, and the 1958 law of the sea conventions

6. To UNCLOS and beyond: strategic domination in submarine regulation

Part II. Contemporary International Law of Submarines:

7. Regimes of passage in the territorial sea, international straits and archipelagic waters

8. Military activities, intelligence gathering, and other submarine activities in the exclusive economic zone

9. Submarines, threats or uses of force and the right of self-defence

10. Submarine warfare under international law