When this work was first published in 1983, the stated intention of the authors was to provide an up-to-date introduction to the law of the sea as a whole. More particularly they sought “to give an introductory survey not only of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but also of the customary and conventional law which supplements it”. (1st ed’n, p. ix). It is a tribute to their scholarship and capacity to communicate that one can say that these admirable goals were fully met. Indeed, in the years since it first appeared, this fine work has come to occupy pride of place on the reading-lists of many involved in the teaching of this subject at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. In my experience the consumer reaction has been almost uniformly favourable.

The same general formula for success has been followed in the revised and enlarged second edition, the production of which was clearly justified by the many developments which have taken place both in state practice and in the case law since 1983. The updating task was a fairly major one and the text now treats significant international incidents such as the Achille Lauro affair of 1985 as well as important new decisions of the World Court and of international arbitral tribunals. Indeed, it is pleasing to see how widely the authors have cast their net for relevant materials. For example, the little known Franco-Canadian Fisheries Arbitration of 1986 ((1986) 90 RGDIP 713) is utilized in the discussion of the current legal status of the Exclusive Economic Zone (p. 151, note 32). Similarly, the 1986 judgment of the International Court of Justice in the Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities In and Against Nicaragua ([1986] I.C.J. Rep. 14) is specifically invoked in the treatment of the status of internal waters (p. 52), the right of innocent passage (p. 69) and the laws of war (p. 309). In addition, new references have been included in the thoughtful recommendations for further reading which appear at the end of each chapter and the extremely convenient listing of state claims to maritime zones and ratifications of the UN Conventions on the Law of the Sea have been retained and updated (see pp. 343–359). That this process has added a mere 41 pages to the length of the text owes much to the sparing use of both footnotes and direct quotations which was such a pleasing aspect of the first edition also.

Although the new edition adopts broadly the same presentational approach and structure as the original, there have been some changes. The major innovation takes the form of placing all of the materials on maritime boundary delimitation into a single chapter (see pp. 153–163). This change is a most welcome one from the point of view of the reader trying to come to terms with the basic elements of one of the most complex and mysterious branches of the law of the sea. The authors, who have included extensive references to the most recent international adjudications in this area, have made a more reasonable job than most in rendering the subject comprehensible.

Although a number of introductory works on the modern law of the sea now exist in the English language, that by Churchill and Lowe is, quite simply, the best to have appeared thus far. The decision of Manchester University Press to make the new edition available in paperback should ensure that it reaches and influences an even wider public.