Critical Analysis of Doctrine of Hot Pursuit in Respect of Maritime Piracy

Akash Agarwal
Alliance School of Law, Alliance University, Bangalore, India.

Volume II – Issue II, 2020

Maritime piracy has been one of the oldest maritime crimes and has been declared as a crime against all nation-states. In the era of growing economy and trade in the world, maritime security is of paramount importance. Just like the issue of maritime piracy has persisted since long, the doctrine of hot pursuit has also persisted since long and had evolved as the customary international law. Subsequently, both were codified in the form of 1958 Geneva Convention on High Seas, and later on, in the form of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982. There are two fundamental principles of International Maritime Law which have beenrecognized, one is the freedom of navigation of the state vessels on High Seas, and other being the exclusive jurisdiction of a flag-state over its vessels. The Articles dealing with maritime piracy as well as the doctrine of hot pursuit are exclusions to the said two fundamental principles. Articles 100-110 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 contains the provisions for combating maritime piracy whereas Article 111 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 contains the provision for the Doctrine of Hot Pursuit. In modern times, with evolved technologies, the paper proposes that a liberal and broad interpretation of Article 111 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 can be effectively used to combat Maritime Piracy . Through adoption of relevant provisions of piracy as domestic legislation by the states, and by construing the entire Articles 100-111 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 in a harmonious, beneficent and liberal manner can be an effective solution to combat maritime piracy. Chapter 1 of the paper introduces the issue of maritime piracy and analyses the relevant provisions related to it. Chapter 2 of the paper introduces the doctrine of hot pursuit and analyses the provision related to it, providing for broad and liberal construction of the same. Chapter 3 co-relates the said provisions and proposes how all the provisions can be read harmoniously to combat maritime piracy in a much more efficient manner.

 

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