Professor O’Connell was a prolific and enormously gifted scholar. The breadth of his surveys of State practice and of the writings of jurists (some of whom are known to the present generation of lawyers only through O’Connell’s work), and the skill and detail of his analysis, earned him a leading place among post-war international lawyers. This posthumous study, prepared for publication by Professor I. A. Shearer, is a fitting memorial to him: it is an outstanding work, worthy to stand alongside Gidel’s monumental treatise on the Law of the Sea, published half a century ago.

This volume contains Chapters 16 to 30 of the work, and deals with the subjects of the drawing of maritime boundaries; the delimitation of the territorial sea, continental shelf and EEC; the nationality of ships and shipping regulation; maritime jurisdiction; the control of pollution and scientific research; piracy; and belligerency and economic warfare at sea. Professor Shearer has taken full account of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention. Although this book is essentially a study of public international law, it will be of considerable interest to those concerned with private maritime law. Apart from the general interest of chapters on pollution control and so on, Professor O’Connell has written in great detail on many topics of more immediate concern to such readers. The sections on the nationality of ships and jurisdiction deserve particular mention. For example, 60 pages are devoted to civil jurisdiction (often neglected by international lawyers) including questions of curial jurisdiction and choice of law in cases involving matters such as collisions, salvage and shipboard torts. Similarly detailed treatment is given to other topics such as criminal jurisdiction and the provisions of conventions concerning pollution and shipping. As in his other writings on the law of the sea, Professor O’Connell writes from an historical perspective, rather than simply giving a digest of the current body of law. Building up his picture with carefully selected details, he has an unrivalled mastery of this field.

This work is clearly destined to become the standard work of reference on the Law of the Sea, and seems certain to retain its importance as a classic monograph even when the substance of the laws with which it deals has become overlain by developments in State practice. There are, inevitably, occasions when readers will not find themselves in total agreement with the author’s views, and there is a certain uneveness in the degree of detail in which topics are treated. These cannot reasonably be called faults; they are inevitable characteristics of legal writing. Professor Shearer has performed a most valuable service in bringing this important work into print.