Legal Ice?

The idealised land|water dichotomy is most obviously challenged by ice when ‘land practice’ takes place on ice or when ‘maritime practice’ is obstructed by ice. Both instances represent disparity between the legal codification of space and its social practice. Logically, then, both instances call for alternative legal thought and practice; in the following I will emphasise the former and reflect upon the relationship between ice, law and politics. Prior to this workshop I had worked more on the relationship between cartography, geography and boundaries than specifically on ice. Listening to all the interesting conversations during the workshop, however, made me think that much of the concern with the Polar Regions in general, and the presence of ice in particular, reverberates around the question of how to accommodate various geographical presences and practices within the regulatory framework that we call international law.