CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ LAW OF THE SEA: IS IT RELEVANT FOR THE CZECH REPUBLIC? J.W. Goethe University Law School in Frankfurt am Main, and at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor where he gained his LL.M. degree. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily correspond with the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and do not bind this institution in any way. Introduction Based on the geographic location, it may seem that the sea, seamanship, and matters related thereto are very distant from the Czech Republic and its people. Nevertheless, there have always been links of the Czech historic lands (Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia) towards the ports in the Adriatic, North, and Baltic seas. The last time the Czech lands formed part of a coastal State was during the era of the Habsburg Empire. During that period, the Czechs used to serve in the Austro-Hungarian navy (K. u. K. Kriegsmarine) and a few sailors with origins from the Czech lands even became famous in the First World War, e.g., Rudolf Singule from Brno was one of the most successful submarine (U-Boot) captains of the Austro-Hungarian navy. 1 The Czech sailors also played an important role in the failed Kotor mutiny at the end of the Great War in February 1918 that signalled the forthcoming end of the Empire. In addition, the Czech arms industry used to successfully participate in the production of dreadnoughts for the Austro-Hungarian navy. Czechoslovakia, established on the ruins of Austria-Hungary in 1918, became however, a landlocked country. In spite of this, some of its companies acquired sea ships for commercial purposes. After the Second World War, Czechoslovakia – then ruled by the Communist Party – started to build its own merchant fleet. The milestone in this process was the foundation of a joint stock company called Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping (Československá námořní plavba) by a decree of the Ministry for ForeignTrade 2 and fully controlled by the Government. Through this company, Czechoslovakia was running one of the largest merchant fleets among landlocked States that served its economic needs by exporting Czechoslovak products worldwide and importing raw materials. Unfortunately, its privatization after the Velvet Revolution led to a quick downfall of the company, as its new owners decided to sell all of its ships. 3 With this (rather sad) conclusion, it may appear that, without a direct access to the sea and any sea ships of its own, the law of the sea is now of limited relevance for the Czech Republic. I have to admit that the legal advisers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of this country spend more time dealing with other branches of public international law, in particular treaty law, diplomatic and consular law, or international humanitarian law. The aim of this article is to argue the opposite and perhaps attract more attention to this field of public international law among Czech law students and the legal community. It is worth mentioning that the Czech Republic, despite being a landlocked country, has been fortunate to have experts on the law of the sea of its own: one of the directors of the UN Secretariat’s Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (hereinafter, the “DOALOS”) was a former Czech member of 1 The Internet Encyclopaedia of the Brno History, available (in Czech) at: https://encyklopedie.brna.cz/home- mmh/?acc=profil_osobnosti&load=6501. 2 Published in the Czech Republic under Act No. 133/1959 Sb. 3 Information available at the website of the former employees of the company (in Czech) at: http://www. namorniplavba.cz. 1.

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