Cornelius van Bynkershoek

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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