Territorial waters

Territorial waters are the coastal sea under a state's sovereignty, generally extending up to 12 nautical miles from its baseline. Foreign ships retain a right of innocent passage through them.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: The principal international treaty defining maritime zones, navigation rights, and states' duties at sea. Its rules establish the 12-nautical-mile limit and the legal status of territorial waters.
Contiguous zone: A maritime zone beyond the territorial sea where a coastal state may prevent or punish specified customs, fiscal, immigration, and sanitary violations. It extends limited enforcement powers farther seaward without extending territorial sovereignty.
Cannon-shot rule: A historical principle limiting a state's coastal sea to the distance its shore-based cannon could defend. It supplied an early practical rationale for measuring coastal control by distance.
Corfu Channel case: A 1949 International Court of Justice case concerning mines in Albanian waters and passage through the Corfu Channel. It established an influential account of innocent passage through international straits.
Territorial sea baseline: The line from which a coastal state's territorial sea and other maritime zones are measured. Its location determines the seaward boundary of territorial waters.
Exclusive economic zone: A maritime zone extending up to 200 nautical miles from a baseline, in which a coastal state has specified resource rights and jurisdiction. It grants resource rights rather than the full sovereignty that applies in territorial waters.
Hugo Grotius: A Dutch jurist whose writings helped shape early modern doctrines of freedom of the seas and maritime law. His arguments for freedom of the seas helped frame disputes over coastal sovereignty.
Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case: A 1951 International Court of Justice case concerning Norway's straight baselines and British fishing interests. It addressed when unusual coastlines justify straight baselines for measuring maritime zones.
Innocent passage: A right allowing foreign ships to pass through a coastal state's territorial sea without threatening its peace, good order, or security. It limits how a coastal state may exercise sovereignty over passing ships.
High seas: The parts of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction, open to freedoms such as navigation and fishing under international law. They lack the coastal state's territorial sovereignty that characterizes territorial waters.

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