Lessons learned from the Gulf of Maine case: the development of maritime boundary delimitation jurisprudence since UNCLOS III

The Chamber of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its

judgment on the location of the maritime boundary between Canada and the

United States in the Gulf of Maine, on October 12, 1984. Less than two

years before, after many years consideration, and an almost complete

failure of consensus during the Third United Nations Conference on the

Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III),1 the international community adopted the

text of Articles 74 and 83 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of

the Sea.2 These two almost identically-worded articles provided the

formula for delimiting the maritime boundaries between States’ exclusive

economic zones (EEZ) and continental shelves. They provide, in part, as

follows:

The delimitation of the exclusive economic zone/continental shelf

between States with opposite or adjacent coasts shall be effected

by agreement on the basis of international law, as referred to in

Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, in

order to achieve an equitable solution.3