ABSTRACT
The US had become an Arctic state in 1867, with the purchase of Alaska from Russia, and in 1881 assumed authority over the whole Bering Sea (beyond the territorial water delineation) in an effort to control excessive seal hunting, particularly around the Pribilof Islands. This US action was not recognized by the British (the rulers of Canada) and a bilateral dispute escalated in the late 1880s, with the US seizing several hunting vessels in the sea. The 1893 Bering Sea Arbitration between the UK and the US is a milestone of international environmental law, as well as in terms of establishing the principle of the freedom of the High Seas. In many ways this was also a major watershed in Public International Law in general since the arbitration process formed the basis for the creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague in 1899, the direct predecessor of today’s International Court of Justice.
