• Under traditional international law, the high seas began 3 miles from the coast; today, the distance is generally accepted to be 12 miles. Under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal shores now have a 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
— Also termed free seas; open seas; main sea. [Cases: Criminal Law 97(3); International Law 5, 7. C.J.S. Criminal Law § 164; International Law §§ 14–20, 23–24.]