A Survey of the Definition of International Straits and the Issue of “Status Mixtus”

Abstract

The issue of free navigation through international waterways is not academic nor need any hypothetical questions be posed. The concept of free navigation and international interest continues to confront the concept of sovereignty and national interest. To solve some of the acute problems thus engendered, it has become necessary to establish a body of rules within the scope of international law.This paper is devoted to one category of international waterways, the so-called international straits. “Still waters run deep” and it seems as if narrow strips of water are often the most troublesome.The most recent controversy concerning free navigation through straits arose in 1967 between Israel and the U.A.R. over the Tiran Straits. In the absence of an international power able to enforce the so-called international rule of free navigation or to convince the parties that the rule did not apply, the conflict was resolved by force of arms.No agreement exists between the littoral States as to the legal status of the Gulf of Aqaba and the Straits. The most cited document in this connection is the Geneva Convention on Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone of 1958. Examination of the preparatory and subsequent material of the 1958 Geneva Conference on the law of the sea, leads to the conclusion that the problem of straits in international law is not so much a question of substantive rule as a problem of defining international straits. The rule as such of free navigation is well established and was articulated long ago by Grotius. The right of innocent passage and the freedom of the high seas is today basically derived from the rule as defined by Grotius.