Drawing Lines in the Sea

Abstract

STRAIGHT BASELINES IN INTERNATIONAL MARITIME BOUNDARY DELIMITATION. By W. Michael Reisman and Gayl S. Westerman. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Pp. xvi, 242. Few natural scientists or social scientists, question the importance of baselines. Baselines are a point of departure, a reference with respect to which we determine what has happened for descriptive purposes, what is likely to happen for predictive purposes, and what is permitted to happen for normative purposes. The normative importance of baselines is particularly apparent in the law. The effect of the most determinate rule can be rendered uncertain if its application is dependent upon a baseline that is itself uncertain. Statutes of limitation are one example.