Libya/Tunisia Continental Shelf Case
It is a point of 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.