With the increasing degree of specialization in public international law, as in other areas of law, there is a danger that a work concentrating on a particular aspect will be too narrowly contained within its own compartment to be of use to any but those already well acquainted with the subject. This book steers well clear of that danger, providing an excellent account of the law concerning the airspace over the high seas drawn from all relevant sources and in a style which would be accessible to anyone seeking to study legal issues within the title’s scope.

It is increasingly clear that that scope is far wider than many might imagine; and the potential links between the law of the sea and of the air are all too apparent. Some issues concerning the airspace above the high seas are obvious, such as what rights there are to use air routes or who has authority to provide air traffic control and related facilities; but the possibility of an aircraft being used in hot pursuit of a fishing vessel alleged to be acting illegally in international waters, or how the law is to regulate naval activities which put civil aircraft at risk, are equally well within the contemplation of lawyers today.

Hence the present work rightly devotes as much attention to the law of the sea and relevant general international law as to law which can be isolated as falling within the description “air law”. Since so much of the law of the sea and of the air is in treaties, there is a wealth of examples of how treaty provisions are to be interpreted and of incidents illustrating how the law is to be applied. The likelihood of increasing numbers of such incidents indicates that there may well be a growing role for specialist and comprehensive studies of this kind which can serve both as a means of acquainting oneself with a specialist area and as a resource for those who can make use of the book’s extensive treatment.