In international law as in other fields, elegance is the result of careful design, appropriateness for context, and functional performance. David Caron’s interest in thinking systematically about environmental treaty design led him to ponder the policy tools and institutions that can be created by States when they negotiate treaties.2 This essay examines aspects of design for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fashion a new treaty for the high seas, the ocean space that lies more than two hundred nautical miles offshore,3 and which provides more than half of the oxygen we breathe.
To be effective in shaping state conduct, the liberalism and idealism that informs public international law must contend with geopolitical realities and the role of power in the international system. David D. Caron was unafraid to address this dichotomy.1 His work bridged epistemic communities and offered concrete approaches to some of the most vexing international problems.
With the sudden death of Professor David Caron in February 2018, the field of ocean law and policy studies lost one of its most gifted and celebrated leaders. His many contributions to scholarship on oceans issues were only one segment of a large corpus of writings in which he contributed to varied aspects of international and environmental law.
