Bynkershoek, Cornelius van

Bynkershoek, Cornelius van, 1673-1743, Dutch writer on international law. His De dominio maris [on the rule of the seas] (1702, tr. 1923) is a classic on maritime law, and he also wrote on diplomatic rights and, in Quaestiones juris publici [questions of public law] (1737), on public law. It was Bynkershoek who first proposed the "three-mile limit" rule, which states that a nation may claim sovereignty over territorial waters to a distance of 3 mi (4.8 km) from shore.

Cornelius van Bynkershoek (1673 – 1743) was a Dutch jurist and legal theorist who contributed to the development of international law in works like De foro legatorum (1702); Observationes Juris Romani (1710), of which a continuation in four books appeared in 1733; the treatise De Dominio Maris (1721); and the Quaestiones Juris Publici (1737). Complete editions of his works were published after his death; one in folio at Geneva in 1761, and another in two volumes folio at Leiden in 1766.

Van Bynkershoek was especially important in the development of the Law of the Sea. In particular he argued that coastal states have a right to the adjoining waters. The width of the territorial sea that could be claimed by a coastal state was about three nautical miles, or the distance that a cannon could fire from shore. This idea became common practice and was known as the "cannon shot rule."

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