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The paper introduces a special issue dedicated to cross-disciplinary research on insular condition and insularity. Situated at the crossroads of legal and geographical studies, it explores the intriguing topic of "Island-ness" by placing emphasis on how physical, legal, and imaginative remoteness articulates a variety of geographical connections. These reflect several issues, such as territorial (and maritime) localisation, insular ontology, colonial and post-colonial imaginaries. The special issue delivers both a synthetic view of these questions and opens up further perspectives for reflection. The papers examine how geographical connections trigger different legal, as well as constitutional, frameworks suitable for geographically distant islands, which, evidently, depend on how remote these islands actually are. The contributions survey various topics and adopt different approaches in order to ascertain how geographical connections and remoteness intertwine. Beyond this richness of inputs, the essays reveal some common features of islands and remoteness as objects of geographical and legal representation. Besides organising society, the law arranges geographical connections so as to act as a bridge linking the reality of remoteness to an imagined alternative able of securing the governance of the above-mentioned remote societal contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greece's insular space results into the birth of a unique case of double insularity in Europe where smaller islands act as satellites of bigger ones and depend upon them much more than on the mainland. Adoption of laws, public policies, the organization of public administration and the issue of administrative acts take into account this condition. The implementation of the principle of insularity is analyzed and clarified through two case-studies, law 4361/2016 on the "Regulation of issues concerning the transfers of soldiers, personnel care and other provisions" as well as law 4551/2018 on the "Implementation mechanism, state supervision, general conditions for the implementation of the transport equivalent. Insularity should not be considered as a reason for providing unjustifiable rights and privileges, but as a principle which should be taken into consideration and respected by the legislator and the administration in order to overcome the vulnerability of the islanders and counterbalance for the harsh conditions suffered due to geographic isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European islands and other remote territories areas have specific features and constraints and they thus require a targeted assistance at EU level. As a result, the EU has put in place numerous provisions that have been providing an invaluable support, particularly through its rural development policy and in its dedicated programme for agriculture in EU outermost regions. Currently, discussions for a reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are ongoing at the EU Parliament and Council. The new system proposed by the Commission legislative proposal submitted in June 2018 is based on the two key concepts of increased subsidiarity and the so-called "delivery model." A crucial question is therefore what the impact of this reform could be, once approved, for agricultural activities in European islands and other remote regions for the future programming period (2021–2027). Our hypothesis is that the "delivery model" and subsidiarity complement each other: the new proposed CAP aims at being more subsidiary because, thanks to the result-based approach of the "delivery model," the carrying out of performances at local level will be enhanced. This increased autonomy presents some challenges for insular and remote territories; however, it also presents huge opportunities in terms of political discretion in the choice of the best tools for the management of their own territory, as well as in terms of voice in EU negotiations. In sum, there is reason to believe that enhanced subsidiarity, coupled with the "delivery model," would eventually help insular and remote territories to reduce the gap between Brussels and the most far-out territories of the EU [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the interactions between national and European legal corpuses about insular territories. French outermost regions (ORs) were first called "départements d'outre-mer" (overseas departments) at the dawn of the French Fourth Republic; they are distinct from other overseas entities. This denomination is used again in the initial EEC treaty in which French overseas departments and overseas countries and territories (OCTs) are distinct. Together with Spanish and Portuguese outermost regions, French overseas departments manage to change EU law in favour of ORs even if the legal differentiation has limits. Moreover, some recent amendments to the French Constitution allow for status variations and even mutations, which can also be found nowadays in EU law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews and updates the counterintuitive status of non-state territories under the United States constitution. Taking into account the historical interpretation of the "territorial clause" of the constitution, it focuses on insular territories and considers some of the ways in which their island status has affected the direction of this interpretive path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cayman Islands has a population of 63,415 (Cayman Islands Government) and an area of 264 square kilometres, making it the world's twentieth smallest nation or territory by geographical area and 35th smallest by population (United Nations Statistics Division). As a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, there exist many connections to other parts of the world that are geographical, legal and socio-political; yet the Cayman Islands and other such territories exhibit traits that may be described as insular or openly international. The British Overseas Territories amount to 14 distinct and effectively self-governing territories that are spread across the globe. Indeed, of the 50 remote islands gazetted by Schalansky (Atlas of remote Islands: Fifty Islands I have never set foot on and never will, Penguin Books, London, 2010), 20 of these islands share a heritage with the former British Empire and, for those with a population and operant legal system, they share the basic underpinning of the English common law [Eight are, or have been, part of a British Overseas Territory; 12 are part of a Commonwealth Nation with the UK monarch as the head of state (aside from Banaba Island in Kiribati which is a presidential republic but still a member of the Commonwealth of Nations)]. Whilst geographically remote, the British Overseas Territories share a direct connection with elements of supervisory governance (as did the now independent Commonwealth Nations) still exercisable by the UK's Government in London, UK. This article will explore the provision of legal education, the diversity of the judiciary and the issues associated with jury size, juror selection and fair, impartial decision making in the Cayman Islands in order to explore the concepts of insularity, internal connectivity and remoteness in law for this particular British Overseas Territory (further references in the text, abbreviated as BOT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 121(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) establishes the regime of geographical features. It distinguishes the island from rocks, by defining the former as a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide; the latter as features 'which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own.' The nature of the feature impacts on the sovereign rights recognized to the coastal States: if the feature is qualified as an island, it entitles the coastal State to 200 miles of exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, with undisputed right of exclusive exploitation of natural resources located within the area. By contrast, if the feature is qualified as a rock, the coastal State is only entitled to the territorial sea. Article 121(3) of UNCLOS and the formula 'rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own' have been subject to substantive interpretation for the first time by an international tribunal in The South China Sea Arbitration (Philippines v. China) Award. Starting from this Award, the present paper explores further the requisites of 'human habitation or economic life' and discusses what value shall be attributed to the technological development vis à vis historical excursus. The paper will review relevant States' practice, scholarly works and tribunals' decisions in the field and discuss how far (if any) could technological means go to support a feature's capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the analysis of article 121 numeral 3 of the 1982 Sea Convention made by the Arbitral Tribunal in the Philippines case c. China, and what lessons can be learned to avoid or solve conflicts in a region that has a vast number of islands in its territory such as Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voisinage arrangements allowing mutual and reciprocal cross-boundary fishing practices in inshore waters exist throughout the world. In the case of the island of Ireland, the practice between Irish and Northern Irish fishermen was articulated in an exchange of letters between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the mid-1960s, the terms of which proved later to be incomplete, unpublicized, and to be overtaken by subsequent changing fishery practices. The problem over voisinage rights for Northern Irish fishermen in Irish waters culminated in litigation by Irish mussel-seed fishermen before the Irish Supreme Court. In 2016 the Court found the existing arrangement to be deficient in Irish domestic law. This has necessitated amending legislation, which is presently proceeding through the Irish parliament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the international law of the sea as it applies to islands and lowtide elevations, with particular reference to the many disputed islands, atolls, rocks and shoals in the South China Sea. After distinguishing the law on the acquisition of sovereignty from the law of the sea, the paper analyses the relevant terms of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as their negotiating history and some failed proposals concerning historic waters. The rules relating to islands, rocks, artificial islands, seamounts in the open sea and maritime boundaries are then reviewed in turn, together with the relevant case law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the geographical scope of the Archipelago of San Andrds? What are "the other islands, islets and reefs" which, together with Providencia, Santa Catalina and San Andres, constitute an integral part of this unit according to the 1928 Barcenas-Esguerra Treaty? While publicists will learn from the 2007 and 2012 Judgments that all the maritime features claimed in the Territorial and Maritime Dispute case are Colombian, they will not find an answer to the question posed by reading those decisions. Indeed, as so eloquently put by Judge Abraham, the Court has "failed to rule" on this matter of treaty interpretation. Yet, the Court could not excuse itself from solving this issue, which was determinative of the territorial dispute, in the present case. Although the Court was right in upholding Colombian sovereignty, its reasoning in this respect is disconcerting. This is why, after having assessed the Court's methodology, I will provide my own interpretation of the geographical extent of the archipelago. The maritime delimitation effected by the Court will not, however, be analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the relationship between jurisdictional powers and economic and innovative capacity in the context of sub-national island jurisdictions (SNIJs). The "jurisdictional powers thesis", prominent in the present island studies debate, is confronted and discussed with reference to an empirical, comparative, study of the three Nordic SNIJs: the Åland Islands, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The paper takes as its point of departure an ideal-type SNIJ which is characterized by a good match between jurisdictional powers and economic capacity; it then analyzes the three cases in terms of this ideal-type. Three different types of configurations emerge, representing three types of "deviations" from the ideal-type SNIJ; these are discussed in terms of their development potentialities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing maritime boundaries between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea remains a hot and intractable problem. In this article, the recent international adjudications that deal with islands and delimitation are examined in detail from the perspective of defining and applying the rights of islands in the Aegean region. Clarifying that such rights are full and equal to those of any other landmasses, subject to limitation on the basis of specific and articulated equitable considerations and of the practicalities of unity of zones, nonencroachment, and access to the open sea in tight circumstances, will set aside a false issue and allow Greece and Turkey to focus on what really matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baker's law posits that self-compatible (SC) plants will be more successful than self-incompatible (SI) plants in long-distance colonization because a single propagule can establish a viable population. Oceanic islands represent ideal systems to test Baker's law because insular lineages have, without question, originated from long-distance dispersal. The dilemma of Baker's law is that one propagule of an SC plant would establish a population with low genetic diversity, which could limit subsequent evolution. By contrast, a single propagule from an SI ancestor, having originated from an outcrossing source population, would provide more diversity but could not undergo sexual reproduction.We examined this issue by studying the breeding system of members of the flowering plant genus Tolpis (Asteraceae), a small (nine to 13 species), monophyletic lineage in the Canary Islands archipelago. A combination of floral morphology, pollen-ovule ratio, autogamous seed set, and genetic data indicates that only one endemic species (T. coronopifolia) is effectively SC. The remainder of the endemics are pseudo-selfcompatible, i.e., are largely SI but capable of low levels of seed set from self-fertilization. Pseudo-self-compatibility remedies the dilemma of Baker's law: a single propagule can establish a sexual population and yet have sufficient variation to facilitate diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It might be thought that the Orkney and Shetland Islands to the north of Scotland have little in common with the tropical islands in the South Pacific region. This article demonstrates that islands across time and space can share many similar concerns by reflecting on a number of legal issues which either have been or are pertinent to islands in both hemispheres, taking into account the role and relevance of customary or traditional law, the influence of introduced or colonial law, and the legal consequences of political domination of one group by another. In particular the article looks at the challenges presented where there is more than one system of law or set of rules applicable to questions of ownership of the sea, the seashore and fishing, and the consequences this can have for management and control of marine resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea over the Liancourt Rocks. Topics include the 2005 "Takeshima Day" ordinance by Japan's Shimane Prefecture which celebrates the incorporation of the Takeshima Rocks in Japanese, into Japan in 1905, the retaliatory response of South Korea over the Dokdo Rocks in Korean, lobbying from both countries after the San Francisco Peace conference, and Takeshima and the Northern Territories as symbols of Japanese nationalism.

Presents a list of books received for the November 2000 issue of 'International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law.' 'Sovereignty Over the Paracel and Spratly Islands' by Monique Chemillier-Gendreau; 'The International Tribune for the Law of the Sea' by Gudmundur Eiriksson; 'International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.'