Resumen de The Contribution of Benedetto Conforti to the International Law of the Sea
This article is focused on the scientific work of Benedetto Conforti on the Law of the Sea, placing special emphasis on what is considered his “functionalist” theory, a theory that was fully developed in the book on the legal regime of the seas (“Il regime giuridico dei mari”, 1957) and then applied, through the decades, to various phenomena of the Law of the Sea. Conforti reworked the concept of government power over marine spaces proposing it in terms of an extension of the power of control of the coastal State in the pursuit of certain, specific interests, first identified in fishing, customs supervision, etc., and then in all attainable utilities in adjacent waters. Hence, an assertion of a “functional” control of coastal interests, and a denial of a spatial control. Conforti developed practical applications of this theory in parallel with other issues such as the relationship between the EEZ and previous agreements, the possibility of extending the EEZ concept to the Mediterranean, the principles relating to delimitation. Even in writing about this matter, Conforti was consistent in using a method directed to identifying the legal problems and to attain solutions based on a study of practice, with which he was constantly confronted, using an approach that is particularly appropriate to the Law of the Sea. This was perfectly consistent with his pragmatism, which led him to be often ready to revise his views and to avoid purely theoretical discussions.
