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

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

From A History of the Philippines by Barrows, David P.

But Cuba has fine ports, and with her acquisition, we can make first the Gulf of Mexico, and then the Carribean Sea, a mare clausum.

From Robert Toombs Statesman, Speaker, Soldier, Sage by Stovall, Pleasant A.

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

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