A nation's internal waters covers all water and waterways on the landward side of the baseline from which a nation's territorial waters is defined. It includes waterways such as rivers and canals, and sometimes the water within small bays. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the coastal nation is free to set laws, regulate any use, and use any resource. Foreign vessels have no right of passage within internal waters, and this lack of right to innocent passage is the key difference between internal waters and territorial waters.
Famous quotes containing the words internal and/or waters:
“The internal effects of a mutable policy ... poisons the blessings of liberty itself.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“For my desert, I helped myself to a large slice of the Chesuncook woods, and took a hearty draught of its waters with all my senses.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)