CORNELIUS BYNKERSHOEK

'Cornelius Bynkershoek' (born 1673, died 1743) was a Dutch jurist and legal theorist who contributed to the development of international law in works like ''De dominio maris'' (1702).
Van Bynkershoek was especially important in the development of the Law of the Sea. In particular he argued that coastal states have a right to the adjoining waters. The width of the territorial sea that could be claimed by a coastal state was about three nautical miles, or the distance that a cannon could fire from shore. This idea became common practice and was known as the "cannon shot rule."