State practice and maritime claims: assessing the normative impact of the law of the sea convention

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention) entered into force on the 16 November 1994, and was the culmination of many decades of negotiation between States. The Convention remains one of the greatest attempts at codification of customary international law, as well as the creation of new law and institutions, ever undertaken. It was intended to be a "constitution for the oceans" and circumscribe and regularise State maritime practice into the 21st century. The purpose of this essay is to examine whether the objective of creating a "constitution for the oceans" has been realized, as demonstrated through the prism of State practice.