276 



jrave support to the doctrine of contiguity as ai)i)lied to remote areas, by liolding 

 tliat colonization of a part of Greenland served as effective occupation of the 

 whole. These traditional concepts still constitute a valid background to present 

 international law regarding the ocean floor, which has developed in the past 

 twenty years on the basis of unilateral action taken by States in resi)onse to 

 needs: action subsequently endorsed by the international coninumity. The tirst 

 and most significant event in the development of the present legal structure was 

 the Truman Proclamation of 1945 issued at a time when the United States, having 

 acquired an advanced technical capability, was faced with the problem of acquir- 

 ing jurisdiction and control over the continental shelf. The Proclamation declared 

 that since modern technology was capable of expoliting the resources of the con- 

 tinental shelf, since recognized jurisdiction over such resources was necessary 

 and since the exercise of such jurisdiction by the contiguous State was just and 

 reascmable, the United States, therefore, regarded the resources of the slielf ccm- 

 tiguous to the United States as "appertaining to the United States and subject 

 to its jurisdiction and control" without this in any way affecting the character 

 of the high seas above the shelf. 



The continental shelf was not defined in the Proclamation but a subsequent 

 State Department Press release stated that it was delimited by the IfX) fathom 

 (2rfO metre) isobath. The Proclamation totally rejected the concept of the con- 

 tinental shelf as res omnium com-m-unis — a point on which there had been con- 

 siderable dispute previously among legal experts — and avoided explicitly found- 

 ing assertion of jurisdiction on the terra nulUus occupation theory of acquisition 

 of territory, preferring instead to jiistify the action taken on the assumption that 

 the continental shelf is the geological extension of the littoral State and that the 

 coastal State has a reasonable right to regulate activities off its shores. 



The Proclamation was followed by pronouncements from a number of States 

 asi^erting various rights, including sovereignty, over vast areas of the ocean floor 

 extending at great distances beyond their territorial waters. Although protests 

 were filed against such extensive declarations virtiially no opposiion was regis- 

 tered against the Truman Proclamation and other similarly limited claims. The 

 general acquiescence of the international community to the assertion of jurisdic- 

 tion and control over the resources of the shelf )iy the littoral State may be con- 

 strued as evidence — controverted, however, as late as 1951 by Lord Asquith in 

 the Abu Dhabi case — that a new rule of international law had been established. 

 There existed, however, an evident necessity for uniformity with regard to the 

 claims of States to the continental shelf and, at the request of the <Teneral As- 

 sembly, the International Law Commission studied the problem. Tlie work of the 

 International Law Commission was eventually considered by the (leneva Con- 

 ference on the Law of the Sea, and this in turn resulted in the drafting of the 

 Contention on the Continental Shelf of 29 April 1958, which came into force in 

 1964 and which embodies the current state of present international law. 



The Convention recognizes the right of the coastal State to exercise sovereign 

 rights over the continental shelf defined as : 



"(a) the sea-bed and the sub-soil of the submarine areas adjacent to the coast 

 but outside the area of the territorial sea, to a depth of 200 metres or. beyond 

 that limit, to where the depth of the superjacent waters admits of the exploita- 

 tion of the natural resources of the said areas : 



(b) to the sea-bed and sub-soil of submarine areas adjacent to the coasts of 

 islands." 



The rights of the coastal State are made explicitly independent of "occupa- 

 tion, effective or notional" or of "any express proclamation". Detailed rules for 

 the delimitation of the continental shelf between adjacent States or States 

 whose coasts are opposite each other are made in article 6 of the Convention. 

 The sovereign rights of the coastal States are subject to the limitations men- 

 tioned in article 5 and are declared not to affect the legal status of the super- 

 jacent waters as high seas. 



At the time of its conclusion, the Convention was hailed as a major achieve- 

 ment of the United Nations. So convinced were legal experts of its excellence 

 that revision was made difficult; not before five years after entry in into force, 

 that is not before 1969, can any request for revision be entertained and even 

 then "the General Assembly of the United Nations shall decide upon the steps, 

 if any, to be taken in respect of such request." (Article 12 (2)). 



I shall not presume to comment on the virtues of the Continental Shelf Con- 

 vention : undoubtedly it was believed that prompt and orderly disposition had 

 been obtained of a new problem of international concern. t"nfortunately, how- 



