Protection, Preservation, and Conservation of Our Oceans: An Ocean Public Trust

This book discusses the conservation, protection and preservation of oceans and the alignment of these efforts with the public investiture of trust and responsibility in State governments, stemming from practices originating in the seventeenth century. The public trust structure is embedded in natural law and general law, which follows the principle that the people hold inherent authority to form the State which, as the trustee, is bound to safeguard the interests of the people. The inflection point is the people's self-determination to exist as a State, and to institute a government formed to protect particular interests, such as the oceans. When applied to the oceans' resources, the aggregate trustee responsibility of States was enshrined in the 1958 United Nations Geneva Conventions on Law of the Sea and evolved yet again in the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, receiving further alterations in later treaties and conventions relating to space and the Antarctic. An assembled Oceans Public Trust is now required by Mankind as the aggregate beneficiary to ensure commitment to marine conservation, protection and preservation.

About the Author :
Ralph J. Gillis studied political theory and history at St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada (BA 1969), law at the University of Maine Law School, USA (JD 1972), international law at the University of Edinburgh Law School, UK (LLM 1975), and a PhD at Cambridge University, UK (1978) under Sir Robert Y. Jennings, Cambridge University Whewell Professor of Law and later President of the International Court of Justice. In private practice Dr Gillis served as an international law expert for the United States in the 1984 Canada v. United States (Gulf of Maine Case), as well as on the United States Department of State Advisory Committee on Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (1984-1993). Dr Gillis returned to Cambridge as Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (2005-2006) where Navigational Servitudes was written, and in 2012 returned to Cambridge again as a Visiting Member at Jesus College (2012) where the research for this work began.

Review :
'While a tough vigorous read, it was an essential read to this practitioner of the laws and regulations related to 'the waters of, the navigable waters of, and the associated wetlands of the United States'; and was in the end an enjoyable and invaluable read.'Marc J. GarrettEnvironmental Affairs Coordinator, Town of Dartmouth, MA, USA