mare clausum

[mair-ee klaw-suhm, mahr-ey, mah-re klou-soom]

noun

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

mare clausum

/ ˈmɑːreɪ ˈklaʊsʊm /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of mare clausum¹

1645–55; < Latin: closed sea

Word History and Origins

Origin of mare clausum¹

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.

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The last have long been pursued by American whalers, whose destructive methods have so greatly depleted the supply that the government of Canada is anxious to declare the bay a mare clausum.

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This doctrine in the History of International Law is known as that of mare clausum, or “closed sea.”

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

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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.

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