This pioneering research brings into focus the Islamic contribution and influence in the development of the modern law of the sea.

Introduction; 1. Freedom of the seas; 2. Offshore sovereignty and the territorial sea; 3. Piracy and its legal implications; Conclusion.

Hassan S. Khalilieh is a senior lecturer in the departments of Maritime Civilizations and Multidisciplinary Studies and a senior research fellow in the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa, Israel. His publications include Islamic Maritime Law: An Introduction (1998) and Admiralty and Maritime Laws in the Mediterranean Sea (ca.800-1050): The Kit¿b Akriyat al-Sufun and the Nomos Rhodion Nautikos (2006).