The decision of the ad hoc court of arbitration on the delimitation of the continental shelf between the United Kingdom and France is undoubtedly the most important addition to the body of law relating to the delimitation of the continental shelf since the decision of the International Court of Justice in the North Sea Continental Shelf cases. The reasons for the decision will be of particular interest in Canada in view of unsettled boundaries with the United States on the east and west coasts and in the Beaufort Sea, and with France in respect of St. Pierre and Miquelon. The arbitration was a consequence of the inability of France and the United Kingdom to settle by negotiation their continental shelf boundary westward of 30 degrees west of Greenwich to the outer limit of the shelf. The principal difficulties were the effect to be given to the Channel Islands and the method for delimiting the area of shelf lying beyond the land of either country out into the Atlantic, the area denoted by the tribunal as the "Atlantic region."
The canadian council on International Law held its Fifth Annual Conference in Ottawa on October 22-23, 1976. This conference represented a break from previous ones, in that instead of concentrating on a single theme to be developed through formal sessions, the conference dealt with two separate topics and, in addition to formal panels, an opportunity was provided for participants to take part in workshops relating to those topics. The two topics of the conference were, "The Third Law of the Sea Conference: Canadian Interests and Common Concerns," and "Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Safeguards." An attempt was made to draw these divergent issues together with a common theme of "Avoiding International Conflicts."
The Fourth Annual Conference of the Canadian Council on International Law was held at the University of Ottawa on October 24 and 25, 1975. The theme of the Conference was the international law of development and three sessions dealt with the evolving law of development, development aid and trade, and development and foreign assistance.The first session, chaired by Mr. Erik Wang, of the Department of External Affairs, began with a paper presented by Dr. Oscar Schachter, formerly Deputy Director of UNITAR and currently Professor of International Law at Columbia University. Dr. Schachter appropriately set the scene by responding to the question whether it is possible to speak of an international law of development.