The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation?
The Svalbard Treaty and its claimed ‘extended-reach’ jurisdiction incorporating both the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) – ie a fisheries protection zone (FPZ) – is an international law puzzle. Disputes regarding the Treaty’s jurisdictione ratione terrae results from interpretati...
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Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/12128 2023-05-15T18:29:34+02:00 The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? Ørebech, Peter Th 2017 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/12128 eng eng Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy Ørebech, P.T. The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? . Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy. 2017;13:53-86 FRIDAID 1563236 1845-5662 1848-9958 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/12128 openAccess VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200::Økonomi: 210 VDP::Social science: 200::Economics: 210 VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200::Rettsvitenskap: 340 VDP::Social science: 200::Law: 340 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed 2017 ftunivtroemsoe 2021-06-25T17:55:48Z The Svalbard Treaty and its claimed ‘extended-reach’ jurisdiction incorporating both the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) – ie a fisheries protection zone (FPZ) – is an international law puzzle. Disputes regarding the Treaty’s jurisdictione ratione terrae results from interpretative differences. My findings are as follows: the Treaty’s concept of ‘full and absolute sovereignty’ refers to the one-time jurisdiction transfer that occurred in April 1925. The notion of ‘territorial waters’ attracts both an historic (static) and evolutionary (dynamic) reading. Regarding its material content, we are faced with the first category. Considering geographic reach, evolutionary reading takes over. ‘Territorial water’ jurisdictione ratione terrae is a generic form whose reach, which is at most 12 nautical miles, is dynamic. The treaty does not prevent Norway from unilaterally deciding whether to enforce this maximum, or a less extensive, area. While territorial sea jurisdiction due to the development of international law may extend to 12 nautical miles, it cannot creep to 200 nautical miles. Due to substantial variations, the EEZ cannot qualify as a similar zone adjoining the territorial sea. Further; it is difficult to argue that its reach should include areas beyond the territorial sea of Svalbard due to the very fact that its reach is limited to the ‘Svalbard Box’. Coastal state jurisdiction beyond the Box is not granted in the Svalbard Treaty but results from the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) Article in Journal/Newspaper Svalbard University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Norway Svalbard |
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Open Polar |
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University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200::Økonomi: 210 VDP::Social science: 200::Economics: 210 VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200::Rettsvitenskap: 340 VDP::Social science: 200::Law: 340 |
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VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200::Økonomi: 210 VDP::Social science: 200::Economics: 210 VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200::Rettsvitenskap: 340 VDP::Social science: 200::Law: 340 Ørebech, Peter Th The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? |
topic_facet |
VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200::Økonomi: 210 VDP::Social science: 200::Economics: 210 VDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200::Rettsvitenskap: 340 VDP::Social science: 200::Law: 340 |
description |
The Svalbard Treaty and its claimed ‘extended-reach’ jurisdiction incorporating both the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) – ie a fisheries protection zone (FPZ) – is an international law puzzle. Disputes regarding the Treaty’s jurisdictione ratione terrae results from interpretative differences. My findings are as follows: the Treaty’s concept of ‘full and absolute sovereignty’ refers to the one-time jurisdiction transfer that occurred in April 1925. The notion of ‘territorial waters’ attracts both an historic (static) and evolutionary (dynamic) reading. Regarding its material content, we are faced with the first category. Considering geographic reach, evolutionary reading takes over. ‘Territorial water’ jurisdictione ratione terrae is a generic form whose reach, which is at most 12 nautical miles, is dynamic. The treaty does not prevent Norway from unilaterally deciding whether to enforce this maximum, or a less extensive, area. While territorial sea jurisdiction due to the development of international law may extend to 12 nautical miles, it cannot creep to 200 nautical miles. Due to substantial variations, the EEZ cannot qualify as a similar zone adjoining the territorial sea. Further; it is difficult to argue that its reach should include areas beyond the territorial sea of Svalbard due to the very fact that its reach is limited to the ‘Svalbard Box’. Coastal state jurisdiction beyond the Box is not granted in the Svalbard Treaty but results from the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ørebech, Peter Th |
author_facet |
Ørebech, Peter Th |
author_sort |
Ørebech, Peter Th |
title |
The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? |
title_short |
The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? |
title_full |
The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? |
title_fullStr |
The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? |
title_full_unstemmed |
The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? |
title_sort |
geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? |
publisher |
Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/12128 |
geographic |
Norway Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Norway Svalbard |
genre |
Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Svalbard |
op_relation |
Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy Ørebech, P.T. The geographic scope of the svalbard treaty and norwegian sovereignty: historic - or evolutionary - interpretation? . Croatian Yearbook of European Law & Policy. 2017;13:53-86 FRIDAID 1563236 1845-5662 1848-9958 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/12128 |
op_rights |
openAccess |
_version_ |
1766212720040869888 |