Occurrence of Crime on the High Seas; from Exercising Coastal State’s Criminal Jurisdiction to its Prohibition in the ITLOS’s Jurisprudence

Components of states’ criminal jurisdiction are based on domestic criminal law that has been mandated by legislative will. But this situation in relation to the criminal jurisdiction of the Coastal State is subject to restrictions that apply to division of maritime areas. The ITLOS’s jurisprudence is an example of the obligation to comply with the components of the Coastal State’ criminal jurisdiction in the High Seas that do not precede record. The review of the ITLOS’s jurisprudence is important in this regard, the subject and purpose of this paper and have new achievements that have been considered by descriptive-analytical method of the provisions of the UNCLOS. The main question of this study is what are the components of the prohibition of the High Seas’ criminal jurisdiction in the ITLOS jurisprudence? The findings of the study show that the criminal jurisdiction of the Coastal State faces some limitations as a result of the provisions of the UNCLOS. Transferring of absolute jurisdiction over the affairs of a foreign ship to its Flag State in the High Seas is an example of these restrictions. Accordingly, the Coastal State cannot prosecute foreign ship’s offenses in the High Seas based on the ITLOS’s jurisprudence.