‘The special military operation’ conducted by the Russian Federation, including the ‘anti-terrorist operation’ in the Black and Azov Seas carried out by its Black Sea Fleet, meets the definition of aggression, which, in addition to violating the UN Charter, also violates the provisions of UNCLOS (Article 301) and the San Remo Manual (general provisions, first three sections). The unilateral announcement (through a navigational warning) of an ‘anti-terrorist operation’, and in fact a sea blockade of Ukrainian ports, is contrary to the content of UNCLOS (freedom of navigation) and does not meet the requirements for methods of fighting at sea (sea blockade, zones - San Remo Manual).
The missile attacks on civilian and protected objects located on the territory of the Ukrainian state, carried out by ships and aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet, as well as artillery and missiles shelling of coastal towns, constitute a gross violation (war crime) of the international humanitarian law of armed conflicts (San Remo Manual). On contrary, the use of unmanned surface vehicles (drones) by the Ukrainian side in the arak on the Sevastopol base is in accordance with the provisions of the Manual (means of warfare at sea). Particular attention in the discussed armed conflict deserves art. 35 (c) UNCLOS relating to the Turkish Straits, which allows Turkey (based on the Montreaux Convention) to significantly influence the strategic and operational situation in the Black Sea by denying the use of the straits to warships (Turkey closed them to warships all flags). The voting procedure for informal members of the UN Security Council should be considered ineffective, which in the discussed case, when the aggressor is a state – a permanent member of the Security Council makes it difficult to apply measures provided for by international law against it and forces the use of ad hoc solutions, such as ‘grain corridors’.

This article examines the meaning and evolution of the practical implementation of the ‘genuine link’ concept over the years since the rise of the flag-of-convenience (FOC) registries in the 1920s. The author notes that while the competition between Flag States become fiercer, the regulations on ship safety, pollution prevention or shipboard working and living conditions are becoming standardized and ubiquitous. By being regulated by international instruments, in effect restricting regulatory powers of Flag States. Likewise, the enforcement of these provisions is becoming internationalized – with the omnipresence of classification societies and introduction of PSC regimes. At the same time, author identifies a lack of adequate regulations in respect of employment of seafarers, most notably wages and social security contributions, both at the national (Flag State) and international level. This legal loophole encourages Port States to introduce local solutions, irrespective of Flag State regulations. Such developments weaken the ‘genuineness’ of the ‘genuine link’ between ship and its Flag State.

The bill of lading is one of the most important transport documents in maritime trade. Due to certain contract-like features it exhibits, it is sometimes incorrectly identified as a contract for the carriage of cargo by sea. The purpose of this article is to present the features of the bill of lading that exclude the possibility of equating this document with a contract for the carriage of goods by sea. A bill of lading is not a contract, but a unilateral declaration of the carrier’s will, in which the carrier confirms acceptance of the cargo on the ship and undertakes to deliver it to the legitimate recipient at the port of destination. A bill of lading is a transport document for cargo and a commodity security. For this reason, it cannot be said that a bill of lading is merely an evidence of the conclusion of a contract for the carriage of goods by sea.

Marine casualties, at sea or in port waters, are not only caused by large passenger or cargo vessels, which, due to their size, may have difficulty in giving way or stopping safely, but also small vessels such as marine yachts or jet skis, which have a high manoeuvrability but mistakes made when navigating or manoeuvring by the operators of these vessels can be serious. The aim of this article is to analyze the collision of two such crafts in port waters in the aspect of criminal liability of the perpetrator of the accident for causing it.

Wrecks lying on the seabed pose a risk to both shipping and the marine environment and the interests of the country in whose area the wreck is located. This problem has been recognized internationally and resulted in the enactment of the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks under the auspices of the IMO. Under the convention, it is the ship’s registered owner who is financially responsible for removing the wreck from the seabed. In addition, the convention imposes an obligation to carry insurance or provide other financial security to cover the cost of removing the wreck. The interested state party will be able to make direct claims to insurers for claims related to the removal of the wreck. The scope of the convention covers the exclusive economic zone in principle, but it also contains optional provisions allowing its provisions to be extended to the territorial waters of the interested states.

In the 17th century were functioned in England two types of public spaces: piazza type of squares, devoid of plants’ composition and green city squares of a garden nature, designed for the residents of the nearby houses. Both of these presented the high-class type of public space, which with the time became popular in many cities in Europe. The aim of the paper is to define the importance of these arrangements in urban landscape, including the identification of functions which they perform today in urban tissue of cities.

The study of the relationship “the natural qualities of water – the naturally built environment – the psycho- emotional conditions of human beings” from the perspective of architectural and landscape organization is essential nowadays. By investigating modern monuments we identified the methods of landscaping and composition planning to create the appropriate environment to emotionally impact the persons dealing with grief, sadness and loss. The conducted analysis of modern memorials allowed us to explore the role of water as an important compositional element in the architectural and landscape organization of monument sites. We also identified different methods of modeling water and how they affect related emotional impressions in creating the urban social environment that would preserve the historical and cultural memory from generation to generation.

City parks play a very important role in an urbanized landscape. They are forms of specially designed green space which combine elements of horticulture with architecture, history and culture. The article presents historical urban parks and old residential-park complexes included in the boundaries of Poznań and currently existing in the wedge-ring system of the urban green space. The aim of the conducted research was to show their historical and current function as well as their general state of preservation and condition. The results are presented in the form of a Table where the historical significance of those objects is compared with their role today.

Zoo is a didactic assembly induced in the system of urban greenery. It has an educational, entertainment, and scientific values. This kind of gardens, directly derived from tradition of baroque menagerie, were created from the mid-18th century. Their greatest development occured since the 2nd half of 19th century and the 20th century. The article is regarding issues of the miniature zoo in Upper Silesia created before World War II. They will be presented their resource, state of preservation and the characteristics of selected examples.

The metropolis of Barcelona is one of the first ten Europe's urban agglomerations. The geographic and natural conditions of the city - located in area between the sea and the forested mountain ranges running parallel to the coast and divided by broad river valleys - have considerably influenced the formation of its hybrid urban structure. The heart of the agglomeration is still Barcelona, established by the Phoenicians in a natural port at the foot of the Montjiuc hill, growing together with its neighbouring towns for more than two thousand years now, incessantly filling one fragment of natural landscape after another with urban fabric. Monumental edifices and high-rise buildings erected in all historic periods have been inorming visitors of the power of teh city and the same time defining places which are important for its urban composition and status. Recent decades have brought no revolutionary changes in this trend. What was changed, though, are the architectural forms of those most emblematic structures in the scale of the metropolis.

The article presents the urban layout, which is a best-preserved example of industrial estates in northern Italy. The subject of the research is a public space of the Crespi d’Adda settlement in the Province of Bergamo in Lombardy. Particular attention is paid to green areas occurring there, and their current use. Program of the public areas was very varied. The main role, besides the factory, held the public park, which is an important compositional and ideological. element of the layout. Research task was to show on example of Crespi, the current situation of former settlements in northern Italy, which are for the author reference material for settlements analyzed in Poland.

The traditional model of the multinational city, which was based on the harmonious coexistence of separated ethnic residential districts and common multinational public areas, where the exchange of services and goods took place, gives way to the contemporary model, based on the principle of dispersion and segmentation. In the postmodern city virtual space has increasingly becoming a platform of exchange: numerous economic, social and cultural functions are performed through the ubiquitous electronic communications. Public space, symbolic for the European concept of the city, is losing many of its previous functions in favour of the Internet. The dispersion of immigrants in the structure of the multinational city is conducive to the emergence of an attractive, kaleidoscopic and multicultural urban organism, their separation in ghettos results in intensification of pathologies. Integration is assuming the form of a network, while separation that of walls.

In the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century numerous parks were built all over Europe, which, though different in many aspects, still show certain similarities in space structure and composition. The question is, whether late modern public parks, built in the second half on the 20th century follow the classical design and composition „rules”? How did the extremely functionalist design approach of the era after WW2 influence park design? The answer is the result of a detailed analysis on space structure and composition principles of the parks built in these times. In this research I analyzed according to specific criteria the Jubileum Park in Budapest, one of the most prominent work of the late modern period in Hungary. The 12 ha Jubileum Park (built in 1965) is located in the heart of Budapest, on the top of Gellért Hill, next to river Danube. Laying high above the city on an exposed hillside, the park offers a broad view of the whole city. The structure of the park is basically determined by the extreme topography, and one of the great value of the park is the natural looking grading, which determines the space structure and fits to the natural terrain very nicely, and the walkway system, which fits to the contour lines and explores the whole site. Fitting to the windy and exposed hilltop position, in space division the terrain in the most appealing, the plantation is only secondary. From formal point an interesting feature is the dominance of two dimensional elements with characteristic shape, like flowerbeds or ornamental pools and the curves of the walkway system. Though the main function of the park is to underline the fantastic visual potential with providing viewpoints, there are some playgrounds as well. For the visitor of today the specialty of the park celebrating the 50th anniversary this year, is, that – disregarding some minor changes – there were no alterations since it exists. As a first step I analyzed the space structure of the park, putting an extra emphasis on the existence or lack of any axis, on the accentuation of the park entrances, on the space organization inside the park and on the existence/lack of hierarchy. Important aspect of analysis was the connection of the park to connecting urban fabric and green surfaces nearby. The next step was to compare the results with other parks built in former times, but having similar natural setting. The goal of the research is to determine, how much the spatial composition of Jubileum Park is different from the spatial composition of classical parks. The results might help to realize, what kind of spatial composition and space structure is typical of late modern parks. It would be important to preserve these space structural specialties of the Jubileum Park during a more and more urgent renovation.

Wola Justowska has long been thought of as the most attractive urban villa district of Krakow. A timber church from the XVI century that had originally been built in Komorowice Śląskie was relocated here in the year 1948, subsequently burning down a fire in 1978 in unknown circumstances. It had been rebuilt soon after, only to be set on fire a second time in 2002. After discussing numerous ideas and locations of its reconstruction, the design team developed a final version of its design, which featured the reconstruction of the church in its original location – in accordance with the will of the residents of Wola – which had been preceded by appropriate landscape analyses. The design calls for the reconstruction of the timber church in a slightly modified manner and placing it upon a concrete plinth, which is to be partially sheltered by the varied terrain around it. The aim of this idea was similar to that of the initial reconstruction, namely, to reconcile the form of the historical building that is to be reconstructed with the modern needs of the parish.

The work concerns city parks in Poznan and their importance in the structure and landscape of the city. The research included 38 park objects of various origin , size and nature . There were evaluated the uniformity of parks’ distribution within the agglomeration, the shape of the outline of the plan ( the nature of the border line) and their surroundings.

Hamburg with the quantity of about 18 mlns m2 is, alongside with Berlin and Munich, the biggest office centre in Germany. The large-scale planning and urban operations with the aim of location this function in the centre have been carried out since the beginning of the '60s. The policy of deployment the ofiice sites has beez modified since then, from isolating the monofunctional area of the Modernism's spirit, to multifunctional structures interplaying with the other sites when it comes to activities' potentiality with the expansion of the large-scale urban structures. Many recent realisations abound with significant buildings that bring the avant-garde approach to the idea of an office building. The high level of building technology and the importance of ecological aspects are the important distinction. The mentioned realizations has been noticed by the architectural critics and mentioned in professional press. The pride of place belongs to the works of BRT (Bothe-Richter-Teherani), that has created many innovatory office buildings.

The town of Siemianowice Śląskie is where we can find a palace-and-park complex which nowadays serves as the Town Park. The complex used to be owned by the Henckel von Donnersmarck family; today it is open to everyone looking for either active or passive leisure. Apart from its historical value (the complex being the most significant monument of the town), the park is also of special importance to the environment. It can be seen as an enclave of greenery and a sanctuary for plants and animals. Moreover, together with the neighbouring recreation area and ecological sites, the park contributes to the symbolic “green lungs” of the town

This paper is dedicated to Voivodship Park of Culture and Recreation in Chorzów (Silesia Park) – one of the biggest of its kind in Poland and in Europe (ca. 600 ha of total area). Construction of the Park had begun in 1954 according to the design under the direction of prof. Władysław Niemirski. After many years it became an example of successful land remediation and re-naturalization of anthropogenic landscape. The whole facility though formally created in socrealism style, actually represents classical modernism’s features inspired probably by American parks with a rich recreation program.