http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/admiralty-law Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Sun, 19 Apr 2026 05:24:03 -0400 Sun, 19 Apr 2026 05:24:03 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1339/competing-claims-in-the-south-china-sea-viewed-through-international-admiralty-law By Constantine J. Petallides - The Spratly Islands sit in the eastern waters of the South China Sea, west of the Philippines and northwest of Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia.[1] The island chain consists of “more than 140 islets, rocks, reefs, shoals, and sandbanks spread over an area of more than 410,000 square kilometers.”[2] Some of the islands are totally submerged, some appear and disappear with the tides, and some are always above the sea.[3] Less than forty of the Spratly Islands’ features are islands under Article 121(1) of UNCLOS, which defines an island as “a naturally formed area of land, surrounded... Wed, 27 Jan 2016 05:36 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1339/competing-claims-in-the-south-china-sea-viewed-through-international-admiralty-law