The Chesapeake Bay is a major east coast interstate estuarine area which has many legal and management characteristics which exist in other estuarine areas of the United States. This report describes the historical development and resulting complex, interacting legal framework at the Federal, State, local, and interstate levels which regulates the development of the Bay's resources. Several case studies are presented which relate the complex framework to specific estarine management problems such as water quality management, withdrawals and diversions, and dredging and dumping.