A Nonpartisan, Nonprofit Interdisciplinary Center
for Advanced Scholarship and Education About
Legal & Policy Issues Affecting the Oceans

The Center for Oceans Law and Policy supports research, education, and discussion on legal and public policy issues relating to the oceans.  Through a regular program of conferences, publications, and lectures, the Center promotes interdisciplinary interaction at all levels, addressing international, national, regional, and state issues.  The Center also provides archives of oceans documents for the library of the University of Virginia School of Law.  The Center sponsors or co-sponsors an Annual Conference of oceans experts and scholars on a contemporary topic of international concern; a summer academy in Rhodes, Greece; visiting scholars; the annual Doherty Lecture in Washington, DC; and occasional Oceans Forums.

Teaching is an integral part of the Center's mission. Director John Norton Moore (Walter L. Brown Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law) and Associate Director Myron H. Nordquist (former Stockton Chair of International Law at the Naval War College) bring distinguished teaching experience and ability to the Center. Professor Moore regularly teaches his course on Oceans Law and Policy at the University of Virginia School of Law. Professor Moore also teaches courses on international law, national security law, the rule of law, and several seminars on issues relating to war and peace. Both Professors Moore and Nordquist frequently teach at the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law. Professor Nordquist maintains a busy schedule, including teaching during 2007 at the Marco Polo Academy at Xiamen University in China, and speaking at the DOALOS/UNITAR Briefing on
Developments in Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea held at the United Nations.

The Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy is an international collegial institution dedicated to fostering a better understanding of the modern law of the sea. Through education on the principles of contemporary oceans law and policy, the Rhodes Academy seeks to promote adherence to the rule of law in the world's oceans. Founded in 1995, the Academy held its inaugural session in the summer of 1996 and has continued on an annual basis. The Academy provides an intensive, three-week course of study, with lectures by leading jurists, practitioners, and international law faculty from around the world.

The Annual Conference of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy provides a unique opportunity for leading scholars and policy makers to meet and exchange ideas on important concerns in the oceans community. The conference is typically held overseas with individual presentations, panel discussions, and prominent keynote speakers. The issues are usually international in scope. The Proceedings of each Annual Conference is published by Martinus Nijhoff, and is distributed worldwide. The Center has hosted the Conference in such locations as Heidelberg, Germany; Dublin, Ireland; Xiamen, China; Reykjavik, Iceland; Stockholm, Sweden; and St. Petersburg, Russia. Recent topics include Law, Science and Ocean Management; Recent Developments in the Law of the Sea and China; International Energy Policy, the Arctic and the Law of the Sea; and Legal and Scientific Aspects of Continental Shelf Limits.

The UNCLOS Commentary has been the focus of the Center's publications efforts during the last few years. This highly-praised six-volume series, entitled United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary was completed in 2002. These volumes provide an objective analysis of the individual provisions of that Convention. The Commentary was acknowledged in the first decision of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea as the "most authoritative" source on the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. These volumes are available for purchase at Brill Academic Publishers. An index volume is in planning.

Programs sponsored by the Center for Oceans Law and Policy include the annual Doherty Lecture and occasional forums and lectures. At the most recent Doherty Lecture, ITLOS Judge Rüdiger Wolfrum spoke on "Fighting Terrorism at Sea." At a luncheon hosted by the John Bassett Moore Society of International Law, ITLOS Judge Helmut Tuerk spoke in October 2007 at the University of Virginia School of Law on "The Law of the Sea Tribunal and U.S. Foreign Policy" (University Seminars Program of the Onassis Foundation, USA).