Legal History and the Present State of Use of the Caspian Resources
This chapter does not discuss issues relating to the legal regime of the Caspian Sea, but concentrates on deliberations concerning the status of this water basin. The rules of public international law that are applicable to the Caspian’s legal status depend primarily on the legal character of this body of water. How the Caspian Sea is regulated will therefore depend on its legal classification and the accompanying body of law. If the Caspian Sea is a “sea” in legal terms, the UNCLOS would be applicable. If, on the other hand, the Caspian Sea is a “lake” in legal terms, then customary international law concerning border lakes would apply. Given the great number of often contradictory legal opinions on its status, it seems that, rather than looking for new future regulation, it would be more rational to try to assess the compatibility of every option with current international public law doctrine. As the Caspian does not appear to fall into either category, it is therefore necessary to take into consideration its historical, geophysical and legal peculiarity in deciding whether it is an international lake or an enclosed sea. The weight of the here presented arguments suggests that the Caspian Sea is not governed by a condominium regime. It also does not appear to be a sea, so the UNCLOS does not apply directly. Nor does it seem to be an international lake. So which legal concept should be applied to successfully define the legal status of the Caspian? It is clear that there are great difficulties in resolving this issue. At the current stage of interstate negotiations regarding future legal situation of the Caspian Sea, as well as in the contemporary practice of states regarding the Caspian Sea there is, however, absolutely no reference to either of the two categories mentioned above, which are today only referred to in research papers about that subject. What remains beyond dispute is that the Caspian Sea is a water basin surrounded by five sovereign states, which must determine its future legal status. After the benefits for each of these states are considered, such a decision needs to be mutual, because only a multilateral solution can guaranty legal stability of the Caspian region.
INTERNATIONAL-LEGAL STATUS OF THE CASPIAN SEA IN ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
In retrospective, the geopolitical description of the Caspian Sea is rooted in the depth of thousand years. It vvas studied and described by scientists and travellers since antiquity. Some of them reckoned that the Caspian Sea had been connected vvith Black Sea. Other thought it as lake. The discussion on the status of the Caspian Sea started during the period vvhen the confrontation betvveen Russia and Persia, as vvell as, Russia and Great Britain for possession of the Caspian territories, vvas under vvay. A vievv, vvhich argued that the Caspian vvas a elosed sea, vvas the most popular in former Soviet legal science. It states that as the Caspian Sea is not linked to neither open sea nor ocean, it should, according to international lavv, be considered as a elosed sea. Hovvever, there vvas also an argument that even vvithout a link to ocean, Caspian Sea vvas a typical boundary lake situated betvveen tvvo states: the Soviet Union and Iran. On the other hand, the collapse of the Soviet Union and emergence of three nevv states on the shores of the Caspian brought about fresh discussions on the legal status of the Caspian, as the nevvly-independent states argued for the delimitation of the Caspian on the national sectors basis. It seems that the exclusive control över Caspian Sea is a praclice of past and thus has became obsolete.
Two weddings and a lawsuit: Marriage litigation in fourteenth-century Portugal
Based on one of the few surviving records of marriage cases brought before
 ecclesiastical courts in fourteenth-century Portugal, this article offers a rare
 glimpse of marriage practice in a small village in a remote corner of Western Europe
 and the complex ties that bound its inhabitants and which secular and ecclesiastical
 authorities sought to regulate. Clear parallels can be drawn with the patterns of
 marriage litigation observed in England and Northern France, but evidence also
 suggests that royal legislation played an important part in the resolution of marital
 disputes and in the shaping of conjugal behaviour.