The Dictionary of Human Geography

the geographies of law and legal struggles is still
undeveloped and somewhat ambiguous. Press-
ing questions include: What analytical and
ethicaldifferencedoes spacemaketothe analysis
of law? What sort(s) of power is law? How can
space and law be brought together without suc-
cumbing to a binary logic? Are legal geographies
only discursive? Finally, the ‘critical’ aspects of
this enquiry need to be worked through more
carefully. Some years ago, Vera Chouinard
(1994a, p. 428) called for ‘meaningful political
actionin and against the legal system’. While this
hasbeenembracedinsomequarters(Razack,
2002; Mitchell, 2003a), the political edge to
critical legal geography remains undeveloped.
Whether this entails intellectual challenges to
legal ‘closure’ or grounded and inclusionary re-
search projects concerning law remains an
important question. nkb

Suggested reading
Blomley (1994); Blomley, Delaney and Ford
(2001); Clark (1989); Holder and Harrison
(2003); Sarat and Kearns (2003).

law (scientific) A statement of an invariant
relationship holding between different phe-
nomena, or between different states of the
same phenomena. The best known formula-
tion is found in orthodox philosophy of sci-
ence and is represented in symbolic form as ‘If
A, then B’. Boyle’s Law, for example, states
thatifthe volume of gas at a given temperature
increases,thenpressure decreases proportion-
ately. Similar law-like statements have been
proposed for geography, of which perhaps the
best known is Tobler’s (1970, p. 236)First
Law of Geography: ‘Everything is related to
everything else, but near things are more
related than distant things.’ In the orthodox
rendering, scientific laws are presumed eter-
nal, universal, absolute, true and capable of
expression in formal terms. They form the
basis of scientific explanation and prediction

• ground zero for understanding how the uni-
  verse works. Two major objections have been
  levelled against these conventional views.
  First,realismargues that the orthodox ‘If A,
  then B’ form of a law says nothing about caus-
  ality, instead asserting only the (weak) relation
  of conjunctional association. A stronger state-
  ment is required assigning causation. Second,
  work in science studies disputes many of the
  characteristics attributed to scientific laws by
  arguing that they representlocal knowledge
  rather than universal knowledge, andex-post
  rationalization rather than fundamental ex-
  planation. In this spirit, Barnes (2004a) draws

on science studies to contest Tobler’s First

Law of Geography. tb

Suggested reading

Barnes (2004a).

law of the sea On 10 December 1982, the

third United Nations Convention on the Law

of the Sea (UNCLOS III) was opened for

signature in Montego Bay, Jamaica, marking

the culmination of over 14 years of work.

More than 150 countries participated in draft-

ing the treaty (representing all regions of the

world, legal and political systems, and degrees

of socio-economic development, and includ-

ing coastal, archipelagic, island and land-

locked states, as well as states ‘geographically

disadvantageous with regard to the ocean

space’; see Friedheim, 1993). The Law of the

Sea entered into force on 16 November 1994.

As of 16 March 2005, the number of parties to

UNCLOS III, including the European

Community, stood at 149 – 130 coastal and

eighteen landlocked states.

The treaty aims at ensuring peace and

securityintheworld’soceans;promotingequit-

able and efficient utilization of their resources;

and fostering protection andconservationof

the marine environment. Equally significant is

itsroleinclarifyingandbalancingtherightsand

duties of coastal states regarding adjacent mari-

timeareas.Several‘mini-packages’ofdelicately

balanced compromises emerged from the

lengthy negotiations. For example, the conven-

tion allows coastal states certain rights in the

‘exclusive economic zone’ (Articles 55–75) –

up to 200 nautical miles – for the purpose of

economicadvantage,notablyrightsoverfishing

and exploitation ofnon-living resources, as well

as the concomitant limited jurisdiction in order

to realize those rights. At the same time, how-

ever, neighbouring landlocked and geographic-

ally disadvantaged states must be allowed

access to those resources of the zones that the

coastal state does not exploit.

The LOS reserves the seas and ocean for

peaceful and co-operative purposes, but

regional conflicts, illegal activities (piracy,

maritime terrorism and drug smuggling), com-

petitive and unsustainable exploitation of mar-

ine resources, and environmental degradation

areundermining humansecurity atanalarming

pace. Despite the obvious importance of polar

maritime areas, there is a lack of general inter-

national law rules or conventions dealing with

polar law of the sea problems (Chaturvedi,

2000). The LOS raises difficult questions in

the following areas: ice-covered waters, polar

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LAW OF THE SEA