mare clausum

American  

[mair-ee klaw-suhm, mahr-ey, mah-re klou-soom] / ˈmɛər i ˈklɔ səm, ˈmɑr eɪ, ˈmɑ rɛ ˈklaʊ sʊm /

noun

1. a body of navigable water under the sole jurisdiction of a nation.

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mare clausum British  

/ ˈmɑːreɪ ˈklaʊsʊm /

noun

1. law a sea coming under the jurisdiction of one nation and closed to all others Compare mare liberum

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Etymology

Origin of mare clausum

1645–55; < Latin: closed sea

Example Sentences

In its expansive definition of national sovereignty, this treaty allowed European states to acquire “barbarous nations” by conquest and make entire oceans into a mare clausum, or a closed sea, through exploration.

From Salon • Mar. 3, 2019

Lethe of death   River in Hades; drinking it caused forgetfulness. mare clausum   Navigable body of water under the jurisdiction of one nation and   closed to all others.

From History of the United States, Volume 4 by Andrews, Elisha Benjamin

Several Canadian sealers were seized by the United States in 1886, on the plea that these waters constituted a mare clausum, or closed sea.

From The Makers of Canada: Index and Dictionary of Canadian History by Various

This coastal strip is called the mare clausum, and the rights of fishing, &c., in it are reserved to the country upon which it borders.

From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by Nuttall, P. Austin

And now, if I be forgiven for venting this egotistic digression and harangue, I promise to make my mouth a mare clausum in future, for all personal grievances.

From Los Gringos Or, An Inside View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chili, and Polynesia by Wise, H. A. (Henry Augustus)