This book is the first in a three-volume series which aims to provide an exposition of the rules of international law governing the exploration for and the exploitation of sea-bed energy and mineral resources. The first volume covers the law relating to those areas of the sea-bed which fall within national jurisdiction; the second will deal with the areas beyond; and the third will contain selected documents and a bibliography. The second and third volumes are both due for publication in June 1986. A loose-leaf edition of this series is also to be made available with projected annual up-dates.

Professor Brown commences with a brief account of the nature and sources of international law, accompanied by a thumb-nail sketch of the sea-bed areas which lie within national jurisdiction, before proceeding to his main area of concern—the law relating to the continental shelf. A lengthy chapter examines the seaward limit of continental shelf rights. Then, forming the main body of this volume, comes a series of chapters concerning the delimitation of boundaries between neighbouring continental shelf areas under the jurisdiction of different States. The book ends with a chapter on the regime of the continental shelf, including an examination of the law relating to the decommissioning of offshore installations, and a chapter on pollution caused by offshore oil and gas operations. Both of these final two chapters contain some treatment of the relevant United Kingdom law.

There is much of interest here: a good account of the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea relating to the continental shelf, and some incisive criticism of the judgments of international tribunals relating to its delimitation. However, the value of this book as an exposition of the law is diminished by its incompleteness and the oddities of its approach. In addressing the issue of the seaward extent of continental shelf rights, Professor Brown restricts his analysis to the relevant provisions of the UN Convention, and refers readers to an earlier work of his for a discussion of the position at customary law and under the Geneva Convention. However, the UN Convention is not yet in force; and, while a 15-year-old discussion of