Impact Of ICJ On Evolving Jurisprudence On Delimitation Of Maritime Zones

Surya S P, School of Excellence of Law, Chennai

ABSTRACT

The ultimate origin of the law of seas can be traced to the 17th Century when Hugo Grotius, the father of international law in his work called Mare Liberum laid down the principle of the sea being an international entity and all the nations around the globe are vested with the access of international waters for trade and commerce. Maritime Boundaries do not possess any natural character as all the boundaries are artificial and subject to policy decisions. From the words of His Excellency, Justice. Bedjaoui, once addressing on boundaries of seas opined that:

Having always shunned land relief despite the fact that it is visible, man cannot but shun still more underwater relief which is out of his sight. The law of the seas and its associated regimes have been put into constant discussions in an international forum since the 1958 Geneva Conventions. The subject matter of the conference was to investigate the core of maritime delimitation which led to the enactment of UNCLOS in 1928. This paper aims to focus on the role of the International Court of Justice in the growth of the law of seas, and the ceaseless shift, especially concerning maritime delimitation. It is a tour d'horizon of the landmark pronouncements of the ICJ which led to the codification of UNCLOS and it is further amendments. As this paper sets its primary goal on the evolving jurisprudence of maritime delimitation, the author also tries to analyze crucial decisions of various arbitral tribunals and the decisions arrived in the International Tribunal for Law of the Seas which reciprocates with ICJ decisions over the maritime disputes. The author endeavors to draw the lines from the oldest decisions like the Corfu Channel case to the recent dispute of Somalia v. Kenya to put forward his view of ICJ’s approach to these matters.