How Far Do Territorial Waters Traditionally Extend To From A States Coastline?
Traditionally most countries only claimed 3 English miles — about as far as a cannon shot could fire. However, nowadays, in International law, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea usually only acknowledges the right of a country to claim complete control of up to 12 nautical miles of territory, from the mean low tide mark on its coast. A country may claim more or less, but International Law does not usually recognise the validity of a claim for sovereignty more than 12 nautical miles. A nautical mile is 1852 metres exactly, whereas a land / English mile is about 1607 metres. So 12 nautical miles is equivalent to almost 14 English miles. In addition, UN law lets a country claim a controlling interest in waters between 12 and 36 nautical miles away from its average low tide mark. This gives the country extra powers to legally stop and search vessels in this buffer zone, if the country thinks that violations may be happening of its laws covering certain areas (immigration, sanitation,
