The Law of the Sea quickly established itself as the standard work on the subject: authoritative, balanced and readable. This new 3rd edition has been completely revised and updated to cover the many developments that have occurred since publication of the second edition in 1988, among the most notable of which is the entry into force in 1994 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Written so as to be intelligible to all concerned with maritime affairs, the book has proved particularly valuable to international lawyers and those taking specialist courses in the law of the sea and maritime studies. The aim of the third edition of this book remains broadly the same as that of the first two editions, namely to provide an introduction to the law of the sea, surveying not only the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea but also the customary and conventional law which supplements it. Since the previous edition of this book was published in 1988, much has happened in the law of the sea. Most notably, the 1982 Convention has entered into force and is now widely ratified. In addition a number of important multilateral treaties have been concluded (including the two Agreements of 1994 and 1995 relating to the implementation of the Convention), there have been several judgments by international courts and tribunals, and there has been a vast amount of bilateral treaty-making, national legislation and other forms of State practice. This new edition has been completely revised and extensively rewritten, although the basic structure of the book remains unchanged.