Straits represent narrowed parts of the sea between two parts of the land that connect two larger areas of the sea. The basic division is into international and national straits. Their purpose, and especially the purpose of international straits, is of exceptional importance for the efficient development of maritime traffic and transport at the international level. For this reason, the great interest of international subjects over time led to a detailed legal regulation of the straits status and the transit regime when using the straits. As three important contemporary events regarding the legal regulation of the status and the regime of passage through the straits, inside the thesis are stated and explained upon : the Judgment of the International court of justice in the Corfu channel case from 1949., the strait issue on the United Nations Conference on the law of the sea in Geneve from 1958. and the The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea from 1982. Among the most important straits that serve international navigation are: the Strait of Hormuz, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, the Bab el Mandeb and the Strait of Malacca. The thesis deals with the general characteristics and legal regulation of passage through the mentioned straits. Sea channels are artificial channels created by human activity. Some of the main reasons that lead to their construction are facilitating and improving marine traffic. In modern times, they represent extremely important and useful arteries of maritime traffic due to the significant shortening of the route. The thesis deals with the Suez and Panama canals as the two most important sea canals, including the legal regime for passing through them.