Visit of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea

The oceans are an indispensable element of the global climate system and not only serve as one of the primary CO2 reservoirs, but are also home to countless known and still unknown species.

This special (eco-)system has been the subject of legal scholarship for centuries. Outstanding historical figures - such as Hugo Grotius, commonly referred to as the father of international law - promoted the mare liberum (the principle of free seas) and thus shaped our understanding of the law of the sea.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), based in the city of Hamburg, is the only international court in Germany. The court is based on the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (link) and has assumed a leading position in international climate protection law, at the latest with the Advisory Opinion of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (link).

On 12 June 2024, the Fellows of the Joachim Herz Doctoral School of Law visited this institution to find out about its function and the advisory opinion (which had already been published at that time). In view of the enormous importance of the world's oceans (and their protection) and the role of the ITLOS as the guardian of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, this visit is all about legal transformations (and the further development of law through climate ligitation).