UNCLOS is one of the most important constitutive instruments in international law. It represents the creation and codification of a substantial body of law that impacts on a variety of economic, political, military, and social interests of States, international organizations, companies, and individuals. Every State, landlocked or coastal, relies on the oceans as a supply of resources as well as for communication and security, and can thus benefit from the way that this global resource is regulated. The rights and obligations embodied in UNCLOS affect the decisions and relationships of all States. While the Convention is firmly grounded in traditional principles of the law of the sea, it also marks important developments in ocean use (the clearest examples being the institution of the EEZ, the creation of the transit passage regime, and a special international regime for the exploration and exploitation of the deep seabed). This book has focused on one particularly unusual feature in UNCLOS: the inclusion of a compulsory dispute settlement system as an integral feature of the Convention. When States become parties to the Convention, as over 140 States are, they also take the unique step of agreeing to mandatory jurisdiction for certain disputes relating to the interpretation and application of this instrument.

The inclusion of a mandatory dispute settlement system in such a significant constitutive document was hailed by delegates at the Third Conference and by commentators as significant progress in international law.