Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between the United Kingdom and France: The Channel Arbitration

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 Just...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Yearbook of international Law/Annuaire canadien de droit international
Main Author: McRae, D. M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1978
Subjects:
Law
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0069005800001235
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0069005800001235
Description
Summary: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.”