"The legal framework" [2019] ELECD 2396; in Forrest, Craig (ed), "Maritime Legacies and the Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 74

Book Title: Maritime Legacies and the Law

Editor(s): Forrest, Craig

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: The legal framework

Number of pages: 46

Abstract/Description:

This chapter introduces the legal framework applicable to wrecks, including, but especially, legacy wrecks. This involves a complex interaction between private law, particularly property law, admiralty law and international law. Importantly, it considers in some detail the constitutional framework contained in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) within which many matters affecting legacy wrecks are addressed. It is an evolving legal seascape that has adapted to these changing values, but to different degrees and at different speeds in various States. As wrecks of a world war, of different nationalities and lying in waters of different States, their future is dependent on a uniform body of law applied by all States; a role that international law seeks to fulfil.