Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea' contains the most sophisticated and detailed system for international dispute settlement ever drafted. The Convention is gradually attracting the ratifications necessary for its entry into force, so the time when states can use the Convention's dispute settlement provisions draws nearer. The dispute settlement mechanisms of the 1982 Convention also deserve analysis even if the Convention never enters into force since such an analysis provides insights into the conditions that can lead states to seek multilateral treaty provisions for the compulsory binding third-party adjudication of disputes. Analysis of the compulsory adjudication provisions of the 1982 Convention also helps us to think about whether such provisions can contribute to the development of coherent, legitimate norms of international law.

Three recent books examine the history and text of the dispute settlement articles and annexes of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Gurdip Singh's analysis, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Dispute Settlement Mechanisms, reviews the Convention's dispute settlement mechanisms in the context of theoretical and historical developments in the law of international adjudication. 3 Volume 5 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary analyzes the main dispute settlement articles and annexes of the 1982 Convention. The third book under review is a history of the draft texts and proposals of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS III] that addressed dispute settlement.5 Its author, Dr. A.O. Adede, served as co-chairman of the Settlement of Disputes Group organized during the 1975 session of UNCLOS III. Because no formal records exist of the informal sessions and meetings of Conference Committees and Negotiating Groups, a first-hand analysis of the UNCLOS III negotiations can provide essential information.

This essay comments on the reasons nations perceived a need to provide for formal dispute settlement in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention. Many states viewed compulsory dispute settlement provisions as necessary to promote the observance of Convention norms. Although the final complicated structure of the Convention does not authorize states to institute proceedings for binding third-party adjudication in many situations, the Convention's dispute settlement mechanisms nevertheless represent a notable achievement in the history of efforts to formalize international dispute settlement. The Commentary and A.O. Adede's and Gurdip Singh's books are useful both to introduce some of the particular controversies surrounding the Convention's dispute settlement provisions and to highlight some broader themes about why it is so difficult for nations to agree to adopt treaty provisions for compulsory third-party adjudication.

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