1. Core Legal Answer & Context: The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 establishes distinct legal regimes for maritime zones, including territorial waters and the contiguous zone, defining the rights and obligations of coastal states and other states within these areas.

Territorial Waters (Territorial Sea):

• Definition: Extends up to 12 nautical miles from the baseline of the coastal state (UNCLOS Article 3).
• Coastal State Rights: The coastal state exercises full sovereignty over its territorial sea, including the airspace above and the seabed and subsoil below. This sovereignty is akin to that over its land territory (UNCLOS Article 2). It has the right to enforce its laws and regulations, including customs, fiscal, immigration, and sanitary laws.
• Coastal State Obligations: The primary obligation is to respect the right of innocent passage for foreign vessels (UNCLOS Article 17). Innocent passage must be continuous and expeditious, and not prejudicial to the peace, good order, or security of the coastal state (UNCLOS Article 19). The coastal state must not hamper innocent passage and must publicize any known dangers to navigation (UNCLOS Article 24).
• Other States' Rights: Foreign vessels (merchant ships and warships) have the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea. Submarines must navigate on the surface and show their flag (UNCLOS Article 20).
• Other States' Obligations: Vessels exercising innocent passage must comply with the laws and regulations of the coastal state, particularly those relating to navigation, safety, environmental protection, and customs (UNCLOS Article 21).

Contiguous Zone:

• Definition: Extends up to 24 nautical miles from the baseline, immediately seaward of the territorial sea (UNCLOS Article 33).
• Coastal State Rights: The coastal state does not have full sovereignty in the contiguous zone. Instead, it has specific, limited rights to exercise control necessary to: (a) prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration, or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea; and (b) punish infringement of the above laws and regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea (UNCLOS Article 33).
• Coastal State Obligations: The coastal state must exercise its control in a manner that does not unduly interfere with the rights of other states, particularly freedom of navigation and overflight.
• Other States' Rights: All states enjoy the freedoms of navigation and overflight, as well as the freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines, and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to these freedoms (UNCLOS Article 58, by reference to the EEZ regime, which applies mutatis mutandis).
• Other States' Obligations: Other states must respect the coastal state's limited enforcement rights in the contiguous zone and refrain from activities that would infringe upon those rights.

2. Relevant Statutes and Sections:

• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, particularly Part II (Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone), Articles 2-33.

3. Important Landmark Cases:

• Corfu Channel Case (United Kingdom v. Albania) (ICJ 1949): This case affirmed the right of innocent passage for warships through international straits forming part of the territorial sea and established the coastal state's obligation not to imperil passing vessels and to notify them of dangers.

4. Clear Conclusion: The territorial sea is an extension of a coastal state's full sovereignty, subject only to the right of innocent passage. The contiguous zone, however, grants the coastal state only limited, functional enforcement powers to prevent and punish infringements of specific domestic laws, while preserving the high seas freedoms of other states. UNCLOS carefully balances coastal state interests with the global interest in freedom of navigation.