Paris Declaration of the Law of the Sea

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the Declaration on the Law of the Sea on April 16, 1856 in Paris, the abolition of privateers was decided.

It was also agreed that the flag of the ship of a neutral country also protects its enemy cargo and that neutral cargo may not be confiscated on board enemy ships. In either case, the restriction does not apply to contraband . With regard to the right to block, it was made clear that only an actually effective blockade is also legally effective.

The Paris Declaration of the Law of the Sea is considered the first multilateral treaty on the law of prizes . It was concluded on the fringes of the Paris Peace Congress at the end of the Crimean War , when an understanding became possible for the first time because of the joint warfare of Great Britain and France , also through agreements on the same subject already concluded between the Allies during the war. Until then, Great Britain had practiced a more extensive application of prize law.

In addition to France and Great Britain , the original contracting parties were Sardinia , Switzerland , Russia , Austria , Prussia and the Ottoman Empire, and from 1908 and 1909 also Spain and Mexico . At that time, the provisions of the declaration were already being understood as international customary law. A further regulation was attempted at the Hague Peace Conference , which led to the London Declaration of the Law of the Sea .

Web links