maritime law

That part of the law dealing with the sea: in particular, fishing areas, ships, and navigation. Seas are divided into internal waters governed by a state's internal laws (such as harbours, inlets); territorial waters (the area of sea adjoining the coast over which a state claims rights); the continental shelf (the seabed and subsoil that the coastal state is entitled to exploit beyond the territorial waters); and the high seas, where international law applies.