ISSUES | WHAT TO KNOW |
Adopted 1982, entered into force 1994. Sets forth a comprehensive legal framework for the use and protection of the sea, the seabed and subsoil, and the marine environment. Also established guidelines with respect to a states’ navigational rights, maritime zones and boundaries, and economic jurisdiction. Provided the level of jurisdiction that States have over archaeological objects depending on the geographical location.
Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987
Eden Sarid, International Underwater Cultural Heritage Governance: Past Doubts and Current Challenges, 35 Berkeley J. Int'l L. 219 (2017)
Brooke Wright, Keepers, Weepers, or No Finders at All: The Effect of International Trends on the Exercise of U.S. Jurisdiction and Substantive Law in the Salvage of Historic Wrecks, 33 Tul. Mar. L.J. 285 (2008).
Leila Amineddoleh, The Politicizing of Cultural Heritage, 45 N.C.J. Int'l L. 333 (2020).
Lawrence J. Kahn, Sunken Treasures: Conflicts Between Historic Preservation Law and the Maritime Law of Finds, 7 Tul. Envtl. L.J. 595 (1994).
M.M. Lossier, The Conflict between Sovereign Immunity and the Cargo of Sunken Colonial Vessels