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Recent Developments with Respect to the Continental Shelf

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2017

Richard Young
Richard Young*
Affiliation:
Harvard University Law School
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Extract

The proclamation of the President of the United States on September 28, 1945, declaring as a matter of policy that the natural resources of the subsoil and sea bed of the continental shelf appertain to the United States, proves to have offered a marketable concept in the marts of international law. Six States have followed the example in the last three years, with certain notable modifications of their own, and it appears not improbable that the principle thus put forward may gain increasing acceptance in international practice. It seems appropriate therefore briefly to review various developments with respect to jurisdiction over the continental shelf, the epicontinental sea, and their resources.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , October 1948 , pp. 849 - 857
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1948

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References

1 Proclamation No. 2667, 10 Federal Register 1230.

2 Borchard, Edwin,“Resources of the Continental Shelf,”, this JOURNAL, Vol. 40 (1946), p. 53;Google Scholar Bingham, J. W., “The Continental Shelf and the Marginal Belt,” ibid., p. 173.Google Scholar

3 DeBuren, later Spanish Director-General of Fisheries, cited in League of Nations Document C.196.M.70.1927.V. (1927), p. 63.

4 Storni, S. R.,Intereses Argentinos en el Mar (1916), p. 38 ff.;Google Scholar Suarez, J. L. , Dip- lomacia Universitaria Americana (1918), pp. 174, 180 ff.Google Scholar

5 Committee Report, League of Nations Document C.196.M.70.1927.V. (1927), pp. 63-65.

6 Imperial declaration of Sept. 29, 1916; Soviet memorandum of Nov. 4, 1924. French texts in V. L. Lakhtine, Mights over the Arctic (1928), pp. 43-45.

7 Great Britain, Treaty Series, No. 10 (1942), Cmd. 6400.

8 Great Britain, Statutory Buies and Orders, 1942, Vol. I, p. 919.

9 SeeVallat, F. A., “The Continental Shelf,” British Year Boole of International Law, Vol. XXIII (1946), p. 333. Google Scholar

10 ll Stat. 119.

11 Executive Order No. 9633, Sept. 28, 1945, 10 Federal Register 12305. No administrative actions appear to have been taken by the Secretary o f the Interior under this order, and no legislation has yet been enacted.

12 At the time this question was about to be litigated in the case of United States v.California, 332 U. S. 19, decided on June 23, 1947. Although action by States o f the United States with respect to the continental shelf fallsoutside the scope of this comment,mention may be made in passing of the Texas Act of May 23, 1947, extending that State's boundary to the edge o f the continental shelf.General Laws o f Texas,1947, Ch. 253.

13 Letter from the Department of State, April 28, 1948.

14 Excelsior (Mexico City), Oct. 30, 1945.

15 Decree No. 14,708/46, Boletin Oficial Ae la Bepublica Argentina, Dec. 5, 1946; English translation in this JOURNAL, Supp., Vol. 41 (1947), p. 11.

16 Decree No. 1,386/44, Boletin Oficial, March 17, 1944.

17 SeeProfessorJessup, P. C.(“Sovereignty in Antarctica,” this JOURNAL, Vol. 41 (1947), p. 117)Google Scholar has noted that the doctrine had earlier received some support in writings of modern Argentine jurists, particularly Dr.Moreno, RuizandDr.Costa, Podestá. Both these writers, though not referring to the continental shelf as a basis for a claim, admit that the bed of the high sea may be acquired through occupation. I. Euiz Moreno, Derecho Internacional Publico (1940), Vol. II, p. 49; Google Scholar Costa, L. A. Podestá, Manual de Derecho Internacional Publico (1943), p. 99.Google Scholar

18 It may be noted in connection with Argentine claims that the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands are located on the South American continental shelf, even under the 100-fathom definition.

19 New York Times, May 2, 1947.

20 El Mercurio (Santiago), June 29, 1947.

21 On his visit to the Antarctic in February, 1948, the President of Chile declared that Chilean territory now “extends from Arica to the South Pole.” New York Sun, Feb. 24, 1948.

22 Decree No. 781, El Peruano—Diario Oficial, Aug. 11, 1947.

23 Cuban press report, Dec. 11, 1946.

24 SeeGutierrez, Gustavo,“La libertad del mary las plataformas continental e insular,” Anuario de la Sociedad Cubana de Derecho Internacional, 1947, p. 225.Google Scholar

25 Proclamation No. 2668, Sept. 28, 1945, 10 Federal Segister 12304.

26 49 Stat. 517.