The Influence of Scholarship on the Shaping and Making of the Law of the Sea

This article looks at the capacity of law of the sea scholarship to leverage change and evolution in international law. It first situates scholarship within Article 38(1)(d) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice and extends the discussion to introduce law of the sea scholarship as a community of practice. It considers the influence of scholarship on the law of the sea by illustrating 1) the direct and indirect entry points of law of the sea scholarship into the law of the sea, 2) the push-pull forces between scholarship and practice and 3) the contribution that law of the sea scholarship, as a community of practice, can make to the formation of international law. Overcoming the limitations of a law of the sea community of practice can enhance the capacity of legal scholarship to not only shape but to make international law.