Some Legal Problems of International Waterways, With Particular Reference To The Straits of Tiran and The Suez Canal
| Date | 01 March 1968 |
| Published date | 01 March 1968 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1968.tb01180.x |
SOME LEGAL PROBLEMS
OF
INTERNATIONAL
WATERWAYS, WITH PARTICULAR
REFERENCE
TO
THE STRAITS
OF’
TIRAN
AND THE SUEZ CANAL
THE
fact that the recent
“
six-day war
”
in the Middle East began
with an attempt to close the Straits of Tiran and ended with those
Straits reopened to shipping, but the Suez Canal closed for the
second time in eleven years, has drawn attention once again to the
law affecting international waterways. Because the problem is less
well known, this article will concentrate for the most part on the
Straits
of
Tiran. A few remarks will, however, be made about the
Suez Canal towards the end of the article.
INTERNATIONAL
WATERWAYS-GENERAL REMARKS
What is an international waterway? The question is not easy to
answer. According to the leading authority,
(‘
For
purposes
of
analysis, international waterways must be
considered
to
be those rivers, canals, and straits which are used
to a substantial extent by the commercial shipping
or
warships
belonging to States other than the riparian nation
or
nations.
.
.
,
The international character
of
a waterway, thus conceived,
rests upon factual considerations, for
it
is only by examination
of
the actualities
of
international usage that any conclusions
about the requisites of international character become
possible.”
Nevertheless, the term
‘(
international waterway
”
appears to
be one to which the British Government attaches significance.
Speaking
in
the General Assembly of the United Nations on March
4,
1957,
the British delegate stated
:
“
It
is the view of Her Majesty’s Government in the United
Kingdom that the Straits of Tiran must be regarded as an
international waterway through which the vessels of all nations
have a right
of
passage.”
This view was endorsed by the Prime Minister, during the recent
Arab-Israeli crisis, when he told the House of Commons on May
81
that
“
the Gulf
of
Aqaba
is
an international waterway and that
the Straits of Tiran do provide an international waterway into
which and through which the vessels of all nations have a right of
passage.”
1
R.
R.
Baxter,
The
Law
of
ZntemationaZ
Waterways
(1964),
p.
3.
2
667th
Plenary
Meetin
8,
p.
1284.
3
H.C.Deb.,
Vol.
747,
so.
200,
cols.
205-206.
158
Vor..
31
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