Suchergebnisse

Under the new Law of the Sea Convention, some 400 or more international maritime boundaries will have to be delimited. The process of delimitation involves several types of issues. One is the sources of authority for such delimitation, a second is the principal methods by which delimitation is carried out, a third is the dispute settlement process, and finally the technical problems of actually drawing a boundary. Out of these basic issues arise many others: Should adjacent and opposite states have a single maritime boundary or different ones for their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and their continental shelves? Should the median line, equitable principles or some other method be used for delimitation? When and how should straight baselines be used and how should they be accounted for in delimitation? What 'relevant circumstances' should be considered, if any, and how? What, if any, weight should be given to 'socio-economic elements' ? Are the charts being used by the parties compatible in terms of projection, scale, low-water lines? In the near-to-intermediate future there will be a continuing need for improved charting facilities and techniques and for experts to deal with these issues. More thought should be given to the establishment of joint development zones, at least as interim devices. The topic of maritime boundary delimitation needs more attention from political geographers; if they fail to act, the lawyers surely will.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- Table of cases -- Table of Treaties and Legal Instruments -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. The Concern -- 1.1 Sea Level Rise and the Impact of a Changing Baseline -- 1.2 Conclusion -- 2. The Baseline -- 2.1 The Normal Baseline -- 2.2 Atolls and Reefs -- 2.3 Straight Baselines -- 2.4 Coastlines: Deeply Indented, Cut into or the Presence of a Fringe of Islands -- 2.5 Mouths of Rivers -- 2.6 Bays -- 2.7 Particular Coastal Circumstances -- 2.7.1 Historic Bays -- 2.7.2 Highly Unstable Coastlines -- 2.8 Low-Tide Elevations -- 2.9 Archipelagic States -- 2.9.1 Straight Archipelagic Baselines -- 2.10 Base Points Along Ice Formations -- 2.11 Conclusion -- 3. Islands -- 3.1 The Constitutive Elements of an Island -- 3.2 Rocks in the Regime of Islands -- 3.3 The Requirements of Human Habitation or Economic Life of their Own -- 3.4 Submerging Islands -- 3.5 'New' and 'Uncovered' Islands -- 3.6 Conclusion -- 4. The Judicial Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries -- 4.1 The Applicable Law Governing the Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries -- 4.2 Land: The Source of a State's Rights over Adjacent Waters -- 4.3 Delimitation of Overlapping Maritime Claims -- 4.3.1 Base Points -- 4.4 Delimitation of the Territorial Sea -- 4.4.1 Historic Title or Special Circumstances -- 4.4.2 The Median Line -- 4.5 Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf -- 4.5.1 The Delimitation Methodologies and Coastal Geography -- 4.5.2 The Equidistance/Relevant Circumstances Method -- 4.5.3 Relevant Circumstances -- 4.5.4 The Disproportionality Test -- 4.6 The Angle-Bisector Method -- 4.7 Coastal Instability -- 4.8 Conclusion -- 5. Stability and Clarity.

The establishment of maritime boundaries between neighboring states is a matter of increasing interest and concern in international relations. Although states have had to deal with territorial sea and other maritime boundaries in years past, the extension of fisheries jurisdiction and claimed economic zones out to 200 nautical miles and the rapid advance in the technology of hydrocarbon development on the continental shelf have created a problem of totally new dimensions. These developments have given rise to many new boundaries between opposite and adjacent states which require delimitation and have made many potential boundaries more important to the states concerned.