Flag States – The first level of apparent authority

The legal jurisdiction over a ship is connected with its nationality. The nationality of a ship refers to the state which has authority over and responsibility for the ship. The symbol of a ship’s nationality is the flag that it flies and a flag state is the ship’s state of nationality. Prior to the concept of nationality, regulation conflicts arose among states when the ship of a given state entered the territory of another state. International law has established that the seas and oceans between states should not be regarded as part of any state’s territory, i.e., the freedom of the high seas. Consequently, on the free seas every state possesses authority, though not absolute, over its own ships. “Under freedom of the high seas, vessels belonging to all nations have unrestricted access to all parts of the sea that are not included in the territorial sea or internal waters of a state”(Ozcayir, 2001, p. 1.5).