Law of the Sea

Abstract

Whether a State is entitled to a territorial sea, continental shelf, or exclusive economic zone is a question to be decided by application of the principles and rules of the law of the sea on those matters. As observed above (paragraph 76), an interest in the application of general legal rules and principles is not the kind of interest which will justify an application for permission to intervene. In the present case, the legal regime within the Gulf — whatever it may be found by the Chamber to be — will no doubt also be relevant to any decision delimiting the waters outside the Gulf; but this, in the view of the Chamber, tends solely to strengthen Nicaragua’s claim to intervene in relation to the legal régime of the maritime spaces inside the Gulf, not to justify an” intervention in relation to the legal situation of the maritime spaces outside.

Land, Island and Maritime Frontier Dispute (El Salvador/Honduras) Application to Intervene, Judgment of 13 September 1990, I.C.J. Reports 1990, p. 92