How Maritime Law Works | Wendover Productions

0:00I love making interesting videos. The most interesting topics are often exceptions. Deviations from the norm. All of us live in countries where there are laws and rules and governing bodies telling us what we can and can't do. But 70% of the world is ocean, where there are no countries, no governing bodies to tell us what's right and wrong. That's why maritime law exists. Let's start with a hypothetical. A baby is born on a cruise ship sailing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. What nationality does it take? This is the coast of some fictional place in some fictional country governed by some fictional government. From this line, which is the water line at the lowest low tide, every country is allowed 12 miles of territorial waters. It used to be three miles, the distance a cannon could shoot offshore, but that has since changed. Those 12 miles are the property of a country. They can do pretty much whatever they please in it, and all domestic laws apply. Foreign ships are, however, sometimes allowed to enter into these waters under the principle

1:00of innocent passage. If ships have an innocent purpose, which does not include fishing, polluting weapons practice or spying, they are allowed to pass through the territorial waters of a foreign nation without permission, as long as they do so quickly and without stopping on shore. Beyond the territorial waters, there's another 12 miles of the contiguous zone. This zone allows a country to enforce laws as long as they fall into one of four categories. If the laws have to do with customs, taxation, immigration or pollution, they can be enforced in the contiguous zone. Beyond the contiguous waters is the exclusive economic zone, also known as the EEZ. This zone extends 200 nautical miles from shore. Beyond the territorial waters, the EEZ is an international waters. However, only the country who holds the exclusive economic zone has the right to harvest natural resources in the area. This law was originally set up to help with disputes over fishing rights, but a sense been incredibly useful with a boom in oil drilling. All these laws do, however, occasionally cause some disputes due to overlapping zones.

2:01This is the South China Sea, an incredibly important waterway. Nearly one-third of the world's chipping traffic passes through it, and it reportedly has huge untapped oil reserves. China has this land, so it says it has all this water. Malaysia has this land, so it says it has all this water. Vietnam has this land, so it says it has all this water. Brunei has this land, so it says it has all this water. The Philippines has this land, so it says it has all this water. When two countries are less than 400 nautical miles away from each other, it's up to them to decide where their respective economic zones end. Most solve it civilly by separating the zones at the equidistant point from each of their shores. However, when the stakes are so high, such as in the South China Sea, countries can be a bit less cordial. So, our cruise ship, baby. Let's change the hypothetical and say that the cruise ship was sailing in U.S. territorial waters, less than 12 miles away from shore. Every ocean going vessel is required to be registered in some country. You'll notice that most large cruise ships are registered in tiny, far-away countries.

3:02Panama, a nation with fewer people than Minneapolis, holds the registration of one quarter of the world's ships because taxes and labor are low. When a ship is in international waters, the laws of the country of registration apply. A ship registered in Amsterdam could legally have prostitution and marijuana on board, as long as they got rid of the drugs and shut down the brothels before sailing into territorial waters. Once a ship is in the territorial waters of a country, the on board laws switch to that of the country the ship is physically in. This is the same for nationality law, kind of. A baby born on a Dutch ship within 12 miles of the U.S. is a baby born in America. Since the U.S. is one of the 30 countries that unconditionally grant citizenship to any baby born within the country, a baby born in U.S. territorial waters is lucky enough to receive the world's eighth most powerful passport. There are two exceptions to this rule. Foreign diplomats visiting or living in the U.S. with a diplomatic passport are not subject to the laws of the U.S. or any other nation other than their own. Consequently, the babies of foreign diplomats do not automatically receive American citizenship.

4:06Additionally, the babies of individuals staging a hostile invasion or occupation of American territory are not granted American citizenship upon birth. Here's where things get even more confusing. Even though a ship in international waters is an extension of the territory of the nation that's registered in law wise, the rules for nationality are different. The United Nations Treaty on the Reduction of Statelessness, which is followed by some countries, says that a baby born in international waters should just take the nationality of their parents. Most of the world's countries use this principle of bloodline to determine if a baby should get citizenship rather than whether or not a baby was born in the country. However, there are some countries that won't give citizenship to a baby born outside the country. In that case, the baby would take the citizenship of the country in which the ship was registered. Alright, that's enough with babies. There's a long history of exploiting maritime laws. During prohibition, U.S. ships started to change their registration to Panama and other foreign countries so they could serve alcohol in international waters.

5:06In the mid-century, Casino boats left from many cities where gambling was illegal to partake in legal gambling in international waters. In 2005, entrepreneur Roger Green started sea code, a company that planned to evade U.S. labor laws by placing an old cruise ship 12 miles off the coast of California. They would bring in foreign coders and house them in this ship where they would not have to abide by U.S. wage laws or go through the difficult visa application process. The idea never came to fruition, but the technical legality of it just shows how convoluted maritime law is. The laws for airplanes are pretty much the same. Technically, once an airplane has taken off, the laws of the country of registration apply. The only law that applies and differs among countries is the drinking age. A British airways flight from New York to London can serve alcohol to 18-year-olds. However, in most cases, airlines choose to follow the laws of the origin country. Spacecraft also follow very similar laws, and luckily, I have a whole other video just about space law. Make sure to check it out here.

6:07You can also click here to subscribe to Wendover Productions and follow me on Twitter at Wendover Pro. Please also be sure to check out my last video on why college is so expensive. It's a great video, so please check it out if you haven't done so already. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you soon with another Wendover Productions video.