Principles Of Maritime Delimitation As Applied By International Tribunals

Abstract

Background The law of the sea, in its essence, divides the seas into zones and specifies the rights and duties of states and ships flying their flags in those zones.1 Prior to 1945, there was variety in states’ practice with respect to claiming maritime zones in which they could exercise full sovereignty over the seabed and subsoil, the water column, and the airspace.2 The scarcity of land-based natural resources forced states to concentrate on the exploitation opportunities of offshore resources;3 this was the chief reason for the emergence of the continental shelf concept. The continental shelf concept gained notoriety after the United States President Harry Truman’s Proclamation in 1945 which extended the landward territory of the United States to the continental shelf, to include the natural resources of the subsoil and seabed of the continental shelf beneath the high seas, but contiguous to the coast of the United States, subject to its jurisdiction and control