A Method for Evaluating the Deep Seabed Mining Provisions of the Law of the Sea Treaty

Abstract

For most of the last decade, the longest and largest United Nations Conference in history has negotiated more than three hundred articles of a treaty covering every aspect of ocean law. At the end of the 1980 Conference session, the head of the United States delegation announced that a treaty would be ready for signature in 1981. Shortly before the 1981 session, however, the Reagan Administration announced that it would review the United States approach to the Draft Convention on the Law of the Sea ("Draft Treaty" or "Treaty") because of concern that provisions of the Draft Treaty dealing with the mining of the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction -the so-called "common heritage of mankind" -were unfavorable to American business interests. The purpose of this Comment is to propose a method for analyzing whether the provisions of the Draft Treaty applying to private seabed mining companies should be an obstacle to ratification of the entire treaty.