Freedom of the seas - Definition

Freedom of the Seas was a point in President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points. It stresses freedom to navigate the oceans. It also disapproved of war fought in water. The freedom was to be breached only in a necessary international agreement.

An excerpt from the president's speech to Congress:

Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.