Libya-Tunisia continental shelf case

It is a fact that Libya has brought more boundary related cases before the International Court of Justice than any other. The Libya-Tunisia case, which was decided in 1982, is seen as a landmark in the development of international law as relating to boundary delimitation.

In coming to its final conclusion, the court ultimately divided the relevant area into two sectors and took what it considered to be the approach most appropriate to each. It weighed in the balance the evidence relating to geological characteristics presented by both parties, but paid greater attention to the “application of equitable principles” than it did to geographical features.

In so doing, it looked at, amongst other factors, historical fishing rights and the conduct of the parties as regarding the allocation of offshore oil exploration licenses, and also reaffirmed the practice of giving island's “half-effect” where to do otherwise would lead to a disproportionate result. It also affirmed the principle that proportionality should be used to test the equitability of the judgment, but not used as a means in itself of arriving at the position of the boundary.

Full summary of the ICJ Judgement

For documents relating to this case, see the Menas Borders eLibrary.