Hot Pursuit (UNCLOS Art 111)

Hot pursuit, codified in UNCLOS Article 111, lets a coastal state’s warship or government vessel chase and arrest a foreign ship that has violated its laws, provided pursuit begins while the ship is within the state’s internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, or EEZ, and continues without interruption. The pursuit must stop the moment the ship enters another state’s territorial sea. It is the legal bridge that carries constabulary authority from a coastal zone out onto the high seas.