These are the first two volumes in a series of studies on international straits, organised and edited at the Centre for the Study of Marine Policy, University of Delaware. Later volumes in the series will cover the Persian Gulf, Strait of Gibraltar, Red Sea, Baltic Straits and Northwest Arctic Passage.

Professor W. E. Butler’s book, “Northeast Arctic Passage”, deals with the waters lying north of the Soviet Union, from the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait. The first chapter outlines the geographical and oceanographical characteristics of the waters, taken section by section. It reads rather like a Michelin guide, giving dimensions of straits, seabed depths and conditions, observations on weather conditions and miscellaneous advice for navigators. This is followed by an interesting account of the exploration and exploitation of various parts of the passage, and of their development as a sea route from the 17th century up to the present. The third and fourth chapters deal with Soviet theories of jurisdiction in the Arctic, and the Soviet laws applicable to Arctic waters, respectively. Chapter 5 examines the Soviet position at the Third U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the implications for the U.S.S.R. of the Negotiating Text (ICNT) provisions on straits. The book closes with some generalised comments in a chapter entitled “Perspectives and Policies”, much shorter than the 30-page average of earlier chapters, and with eight documentary appendices, three of which are drawn from UNCLOS records, the others being translations of the 1971 Russian Statute on the Northern Sea Route and four short Russian regulations and diplomatic notes. This book certainly makes interesting reading, especially in the parts which enlarge upon Professor Butler’s earlier writings or which break wholly new ground.

In reviewing the work one is struck by the extent to which Professor Butler has set the standard in English-language work on the Soviet Union and the law of the sea, leaving little other than his own previous work against which to measure the quality of new offerings on this subject. While the standard of scholarship in the book is, without doubt, up to the usual levels of excellence which Professor Butler has established for himself, one nevertheless senses that the book is not wholly clear in its purpose. For example, the geographical data for some of the sea areas is given in great detail and, for other areas, in much less detail. This leaves one wondering at whom the chapter is aimed. Surely not the general international lawyer, for the detail goes well beyond