From the middle of the twentieth century onwards, the order of the ocean has changed as remarkably as that of land. Yet, developments in the law of the sea usually receive less prominent consideration in international or global histories of this period. In this short essay, I examine firstly the ways in which literatures in history and international law engage, or not, with the ordering of the ocean during, and due to, decolonization. Secondly, I suggest that the making of the law of the sea offers rich insights into the contingencies, currents, and counter-currents of the decolonization moment. Among other things it reveals fluid political geographies, epistemic churn, and alternative models for the extraction and distribution of natural resources. The flickerings and foreclosures of the various possibilities of the decolonization moment are well worth further study, especially as unsettling our understandings of oceanic lines becomes necessary in the present times.

从二十世纪中叶开始，海洋的秩序与陆地的秩序发生了显着变化。然而，在这一时期的国际或全球历史中，海洋法的发展通常很少受到关注。在这篇简短的文章中，我首先考察在非殖民化过程中以及由于非殖民化而导致的历史和国际法文学与海洋秩序的互动方式。其次，我建议制定海洋法则可以为非殖民化时刻的偶然性，潮流和逆流提供丰富的见解。除其他事项外，它揭示了动荡的政治地理环境，认知流失以及自然资源开采和分配的替代模型。