Deep waters. Prolegomena of a penal system of the sea.

The paper moves from the study of the nomos of the sea to analyze the characteristics of criminal law in “complex territories”, that is, where there are both jurisdictional gaps and overlapping jurisdictions. In the face of the potentiality and peculiarity of the sea, the question is raised about the existence of criminal systems that are “territorial in the strong sense”, in whose normogenesis process the territory itself constitutes a significant, unifying and possibly prevailing factor with respect to the systems that competitively exercise their sovereignty over that territory. Noting the in-adequacy of the taxonomic approach that criminal law currently reserves for marine spaces, finally, it is hoped that unified, shared and inclusive criminal policy strategies will be developed, even where these involve giving up traditional forms of enforcement, expressive of the dominance of law over places.