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

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)

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

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.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay" by Various

Pressed by this company, which naturally wished the completest possible monopoly of seal-fishing, our Government foolishly affected to treat the entire Behring Sea as a mare clausum, belonging to the United States.

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