Abstract
Dispute settlement is entrenched in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) through the Part XV compulsory mechanisms. It is also reflected in UNCLOS's indication that delimitation of the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf is to be by way of agreement between coastal states. While maritime boundary delimitation may be viewed as dominated by judicialization, that is not reflected in UNCLOS. The maritime boundary delimitation project unleashed by UNCLOS gave primacy to delimitation by agreement, with third party settlement under Part XV the secondary mechanism. The 2018 Australia/Timor-Leste maritime boundary settlement highlights how, even when Part XV third party mechanisms were used, the coastal states were able to reach agreement on a maritime boundary by negotiation, without recourse to judicialization.
Highlights
Dispute settlement is entrenched in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) through the Part XV compulsory mechanisms.[1]
It is reflected in UNCLOS’s indication that delimitation of the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf is to be by way of agreement between coastal states
While maritime boundary delimitation may be viewed as dominated by judicialization, that is not reflected in UNCLOS
Summary
The law of the sea has always been an international legal regime strongly associated with the decisions of international courts and tribunals. Some of the earliest decisions in the field, not delivered by domestic courts, have had profound impact and ongoing influence These include, for example, the Fur Seals Arbitration[2] and the Grisbådana case.[3] The influence of law of the sea cases was reinforced in the modern era by decisions such as Corfu Channel,[4] the first contentious case decided by the ICJ, and North Sea Continental Shelf.[5] That trend has continued since the negotiation and entry into force of the UNCLOS in which the ICJ, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), and arbitral tribunals have played an important role in the convention’s interpretation. Licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
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