In constructing authority to support activities at sea, resolving the tension between power and legitimation is of fundamental importance. Power of itself has rarely been a sustainable source of authority at sea and the search for ways to entrench authority by legitimation has been a constant theme of maritime international relations. In the post-Cold War re-ordering of global power relationships, international law as a component of authority has occasionally undergone radical evolution - or re-interpretation - in order to keep pace with new issues and to reflect international practice. The Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC), a similarly major component of international law which deals with 70 per cent of the earth's surface, both supports and subverts traditional sovereignty. This chapter presents an overview of how other chapters of the book are organised.Keywords: international law, LOSC, post-Cold War, territorial sea regime