Registration ends 07.4.2026 at 23:59 h

Who owns the Moon? Or Antarctica? Can Denmark cede territorial sovereignty over Greenland to the United States of America? The law of which State applies on board of a civilian airplane? Are the high seas a lawless space? Who can exploit the resources of the North Pole? Which laws govern shipping through the Arctic Ocean once it has become ice-free? What does it mean to ‘decolonize’ territory formerly controlled by a colonial power? Can an upstream State stop the flow of a river and monopolize its waters? Is it possible to create new States on artificial islands in the world’s oceans? What happens to island States threatened by sea-level rise? How can States protect nature through area-based management tools such as protected areas?
These are just some of the questions that we will ask in this course, which explores the many ways in which humanity (and in particular the international community of States) has regulated spaces through public international law. It begins by providing a general introduction to the functioning of public international law (German: Völkerrecht), meaning the law that applies between States and other subjects of international law. Thereafter, this course analyzes how the international legal regime regulates various physical spaces and their relationships with human societies through general and specific rules, instruments (in particular treaties) and institutions (in particular international organizations): territory; oceans and the seabed; rivers, aquifers and lakes; airspace; outer space (including the Moon); and the Polar regions (Arctic and Antarctica). While these spaces (and environment, ecosystems and resources found therein) are a physical reality, the way the law conceptualizes and regulates them is largely a social construct of human civilization (power, interests, economics, culture, religion, etc.). Legal notions such as ‘sovereignty’, ‘borders’, ‘jurisdiction’ (i.e. the lawful power of States to prescribe, enforce and adjudicate law in a certain space or over a person or thing) or ‘marine protected areas’ are excellent examples of such ‘normative spatialities’.
The objective of this course is to examine spatial perspectives on international law – asking not only ‘how’ but also ‘why’ the international legal regime has developed this way (and what the future might bring in the contemporary world order). It does so through a primarily ‘traditional’ (i.e. positivist) doctrinal approach. However, the seminar will also occasionally make reference to critical perspectives and approaches informed by the social sciences, such as Legal Geography and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL).

These are just some of the questions that this seminar seeks to address. It begins by providing a general introduction to the functioning of public international law (German: Völkerrecht), meaning the law that applies between States and other subjects of international law. Thereafter, this seminar analyzes how the international legal regime regulates various physical spaces and their relationships with human societies through general and specific rules, instruments (in particular treaties) and institutions (in particular international organizations): territory, oceans, rivers and lakes, airspace, outer space, and ecosystems. While these spaces (and environment, ecosystems and resources found therein) are a physical reality, the way the law perceives and regulates them is largely a construct of human civilization (power, interests, economics, culture, religion, etc.). Legal notions such as ‘sovereignty’, ‘borders’, ‘jurisdiction’ (i.e. the lawful power of States to prescribe, enforce and adjudicate law in a certain space or over a person or thing) and ‘military occupation’ are excellent examples of such ‘normative spatialities’.

The objective of this seminar is to examine spatial perspectives on international law – asking not only ‘how’ but also ‘why’ the international legal regime has developed this way (and what the future might bring in the contemporary world order). It does so through a primarily ‘traditional’ (i.e. positivist) doctrinal approach. However, the seminar will also occasionally make reference to critical perspectives and approaches informed by the social sciences, such as Legal Geography and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL).

This course will provide a basic understanding of and ability to critically examine the relationship of public international law and spatial concepts such as territory; oceans and the seabed; rivers, aquifers and lakes; airspace; outer space (including the Moon); and the Polar regions (Arctic and Antarctica). The course will enable participants to develop a basic understanding of, and critical perspective on, how public international law governs and shapes the relationship of human societies and physical spaces.

Further information on teaching evaluation: https://www.leuphana.de/en/teaching/quality-management/evaluation/course-evaluation.html