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Gesal Marie Arnoza

  North Sea Continental Shelf Cases

(Federal Republic of Germany/Denmar and Netherlands!

"#$# %&C&'& (Feb )*!

 Article $ of the Con+ention on the Continental Shelf (,"$ -&S&.&S& )*,

("#,!! says that if there are t0o countries separated by a sea1 the

boundary bet0een then should be calculated as the point e2uidistant

from both coastlines&

.his is no0n as the e2uidistance principle&

%t is important to no0 0here the boundary is because a country can

drill for oil in the seabed 0ithin their territory&

.he North Sea is surrounded by Nor0ay1 the -31 the Netherlands1

Germany1 4el5ium1 and Denmar& .here is lots of oil ri5ht near the

middle&

Germany felt that they 0ere 5ettin5 a bad deal because their coastline

0as conca+e1 0hile Denmar and the Netherlands had con+e6

coastlines (loo at a map!& .his meant that based on the e2uidistance

principle1 they 0ould 5et less seabed than they 0ould 5et if the

coastlines 0ere all strai5ht&

.hey 0ent to the %nternational Court of 'ustice and ased for a rulin5

on ho0 to dra0 the boundary&

Denmar and the Netherlands ar5ued that the e2uidistance principle

0as not only codified in the Con+ention of the Continental Shelf1 but

that it 0as already 7crystallized7 into customary international la0&

.he %C' found that the boundary should be redra0n on the basis of

e2uitable principles&

.he %C' a5reed that the e2uidistance principle 5i+es a country 0ith a

con+e6 coastline more seabed than 0hat a country 0ith a conca+e

coastline 0ould recei+e&

.he %C' found that the e2uidistance principle 0as still relati+ely ne01

and so it 0asn7t e6actly customary international la0 8ust yet&

%n addition1 there is a clause in Article $ that allo0s for different

boundary lines to be dra0n 0hen 98ustified by special circumstances&9

.he %C' told the parties to 5o bac and 0or out a boundary that 0as

e2uitable to e+erybody&

4asically1 this case said that countries didn7t need to follo0 the

e2uidistance principle if it 0as ine2uitable&

:ater1 this theory of e2uity 0as codified in Article of the Con+ention

on the :a0 of the Sea (" -&N&.&S& ("#)!!1

.he North Sea Continental Shelf cases 0ere a series of disputes that

came to the %nternational Court of 'ustice in "#$#& .hey in+ol+ed

a5reements amon5 Denmar1 Germany1 and the Netherlands

re5ardin5 the 9delimitation9 of areas;rich in oil and 5as;of the

continental shelf in the North Sea&

<edit=>istory

Germany7s North Sea coast is conca+e1 0hile the Netherlands7 and

Denmar7s coasts are con+e6& %f the delimitation had been determined

by the e2uidistance rule (9dra0in5 a line each point of 0hich is e2ually

distant from each shore9!1 Germany 0ould ha+e recei+ed a smalle

portion of the resource?rich shelf relati+e to the t0o other states& .hus

Germany ar5ued that the actual len5th of the coastlines be used to

determine the delimitation&<"=

.he Court ultimately ur5ed the parties to 9abat<e= the effects of an

incidential special feature <Germany7s conca+e coast= from 0hich an

un8ustifiable difference of treatment could result&9 %n subse2uen

ne5otiations1 the states 5ranted to Germany most of the additiona

shelf it sou5ht&<)= .he cases are +ie0ed as an e6ample of 9e2uity

praeter le5em9??that is1 e2uity 9beyond the la09??0hen a 8ud5e

supplements the la0 0ith e2uitable rules necessary to decide the case

at hand&<=

con@ca+e  <ad8&1 +& on?ey+1 on?ey+ n& on?ey+= ad8ecti+e1 noun

+erb1 ?ca+ed1 ?ca+@in5&

ad8ecti+e

"&cur+ed lie a se5ment of the interior of a circle or hollo0 sphere

hollo0 and cur+ed& Compare con+e6 (def& "!&

)&Geometry& (of a poly5on! ha+in5 at least one interior an5le 5reatethan "*B&

&bsolete& hollo0&

con@+e6  <ad8& on?+es1 uhn? n& on?+es= Sho0 %A

ad8ecti+e

"&ha+in5 a surface that is cur+ed or rounded out0ard& Compare

conca+e ( def& " ! &

)&Mathematics &

a&(of a poly5on! ha+in5 all interior an5les less than or e2ual to "*B&

b&

(of a set

ha+in5

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