Chapter V. Some Thoughts On Maritime Boundary Delimitation

Over the past half century, the international law of maritime boundary delimitation has developed through the jurisprudence (or case law) of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the international arbitral tribunals, as well as a great number of international agreements on maritime boundary delimitation. The law of continental shelf boundary delimitation evolved first and later merged with that of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which arrived on the scene some time later. The first international judicial case of continental shelf boundary delimitation was the 1969 North Sea Continental Shelf Cases before the ICJ. The concept of the continental shelf was introduced into international law much earlier than the EEZ, and consequently, the boundary delimitation methods that have evolved for the former have influenced those for the latter. Keywords: continental shelf boundary delimitation; exclusive economic zone (EEZ); international arbitral tribunals; International Court of Justice (ICJ); international law; maritime boundary delimitation