Mare Clausum: The Formation of the Law of the Sea in Pre-modern State Practice and Legal Doctrine (c. 1350–1650)

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Mare Clausum: The Formation of the Law of the Sea in Pre-modern State Practice and Legal Doctrine (c. 1350–1650)

By Stefano Cattelan
Brill Nijhoff November 2025

Specifications

ISBN-13
9789004741393
Publisher
Brill Nijhoff
Publication
November 2025
Format
Hardback
Jurisdiction
Netherlands ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

Who owns the sea? This book explores this timeless question by tracing the development of claims over the sea from the late Middle Ages to the early modern era, shedding light on the complex interplay between legal arguments, political interests, and geostrategic realities.

By the time Hugo Grotius’s Mare liberum (1609) famously championed the freedom of the seas, competing traditions of ‘claimed seas’ had already shaped European legal debates for centuries. Examining three macro-regions – the Mediterranean, the seas of Northern Europe, and the world oceans – this study challenges the dominant Grotius-centric narrative, offering a broader perspective on how political actors and jurists justified exclusive maritime rights long before John Selden’s Mare clausum (1635). While assessing the Eurocentric foundations of the modern law of the sea, it reveals how historical legal arguments and notions continue to shape contemporary ocean governance.

Table of Contents

Foreword - The Turn of the Tide in the Debate on the Law of the Sea
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1 Medieval ‘Claimed Seas’ Temptations
Chapter 2 The Oceans
Chapter 3 The Emergence of the Freedom of the Sea, Grotius’ Mare liberum
Chapter 4 Replies to Mare liberum, the (Re)Emergence of Mare clausum
Chapter 5 Conclusions
Bibliography
Index of Persons
Index of Places
Index of Concepts
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