MARITIME DELIMITATION
Maritime delimitation is the process of establishing lines separating the spatial ambit of coastal State jurisdiction over maritime space where the legal title overlaps with that of another state. Its object is to separate overlapping areas where the legal titles of coastal States compete and each State attempts to exercise spatial jurisdiction over the same maritime space, therefore the operation of maritime delimitation is always between at least two States.
Politicians say that in 1999 Tony Blair redrew the existing Angelo-Scottish maritime boundary line, which already was favorable to England, to approximately 6,000 square miles of the Scottish water up to England, including seven major oilfields.
The ICJ has stated in the Gulf of Maine case that ‘No maritime delimitation between States with opposite or adjacent coasts may be effect unilaterally by one of those States, hence maritime delimitation is international by nature’. Question is of course whether England did this in 1999 or not.
Article 83 (1) of the United Nation Convention of Law of the Sea (hereafter LOSC) states that delimitation as explained above will be effected by agreement of the basis of international law, as referred…show more content… However, the international courts and tribunals try to apply the equidistance method during the first stage of delimitation, disregarding the configuration of the coast.
The concavity and convexity of coasts are a relevant circumstance, derived from the North Sea Continental Shelf cases and the Libya/Malta judgement in which the ICJ regarded the equidistance method as inequitable where the coasts are concave. It is extremely difficult to interpret the configuration of the coasts.
Regarding the general direction of the coast the Arbitral Tribunal
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