The War of the Herrings and the Beginnings of Maritime Law: William Welwood on the Power of the Sea Cover Image

Wojna o śledzie i początki prawa morskiego. William Welwood o władzy nad morzem
The War of the Herrings and the Beginnings of Maritime Law: William Welwood on the Power of the Sea

Author(s): Tomasz Tulejski, Anna Tomza-Tulejska
Subject(s): History
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej
Keywords: Welwood; Grotius; Maritime Law

Summary/Abstract: The period of the great geographical discoveries and the formation of European colonial empires caused great international debate on the freedom of the seas. Many prominent European lawyers became involved in the dispute, splitting their support between mare liberum and mare clausum. One of the many spin-off debates was the Anglo-Dutch dispute about fishing around the coast of Britain. Although its most important figures were Grotious and Selden, the theoretical grounding for the British claims to the waters surrounding their islands was laid by William Welwood, a Scottish professor of mathematics and civil law. In the article, the author presents Welwood’s approach to maritime law, which combines two opposing concepts by Grotious and Selden. He thus anticipated modern solutions based on the division into territorial waters and the open sea.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 53
  • Page Range: 45-60
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish