From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Equidistance principle

Legal concept in maritime boundary claims

Summary

Legal concept in maritime boundary claims

The equidistance principle, or principle of equidistance, is a legal concept in maritime boundary claims that a nation's maritime boundaries should conform to a median line that is equidistant from the shores of neighboring nations. The concept was developed in the process of settling disputes in which the borders of adjacent nations were located on a contiguous continental shelf:

The equidistance principle represents one aspect of customary international law, but its importance is evaluated in light of other factors such as history:

"Historic rights" or titles of some or another kind will acquire enhanced, rather than diminished, importance as a result of the narrowing of the 'physical' rather than the 'legal' sources of right. It is important to remember that, although historical claims were not successful in the Gulf of Maine case, the identification of a 'status quo' or 'modus vivendi' line in Tunisia–Libya was of decisive importance in confirming the equitableness of the first stage of delimitation. States will scrupulously avoid, more than ever, any appearance of acquiescence where acquiescence is not intended; prudent coordination can be expected between petroleum and mining ministries and the legal advisers of foreign ministries." — Highet, Keith. (1989). "Whatever became of natural prolongation."

History

The United States used equidistance in the 1805 Act of Congress that divided public lands by measurements as close as possible to "equidistant from those two corners which stand on the same line." One of the most notable historical events regarding equidistance is the Argument between Germany, Netherlands and Denmark. All three countries laid claim to a specific area within the ocean. Germany claimed that due to special circumstances they owned that land so the three countries fought through the United Nations. Eventually the ICJ stepped in and held a trial regarding the topic.

International law also refers to equidistance. For example, Article 6 of the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf explains:

References

Sources

Dorinda G. Dallmeyer and Louis De Vorsey. (1989). Rights to Oceanic Resources: Deciding and Drawing Maritime Boundaries. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ; OCLC 18981568

References

[http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/05-24659.htm "Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Administrative Boundaries Extending from the Submerged Lands Act Boundary seaward to the Limit of the United States Outer Continental Shelf,"] ''Federal Register,'' January 3, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 1) pp. 127–131.
Dorinda G. Dallmeyer ''et al.'' (1989). {{Google books. X2DssQNCz-sC. ''Rights to Oceanic Resources: Deciding and Drawing Maritime Boundaries,'' pp. 34, 158.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

borders maritime-boundaries

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Equidistance principle — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report