The development of the law on the continental shelf

Abstract

In quest of petroleum and other natural resources, people have long realized the riches on and in the subsoil of the sea and the problems regarding to the continental shelf have become a significant subject in international law which has been dealt by jurists in the past two decades. Although the claims of the rights to the mineral resources under the sea has been set up by different countries early in the nineteenth century, e.g., the Cornwall Submarine Mines Act, 1858, provided: "All mines and minerals lying below low-water mark under the open sea adjacent to but not being part of the County of Cornwall, are vested in Her Majesty the Queen in right of the Crown as part of the soil and territorial possessions of the Crown." the term "continental shelf" was not used until 1945. This term was first adopted in the famous presidential proclamation of the United States. Obviously the term has been commonly accepted since then although it does not contain a precise meaning. The Truman Proclamation is deemed to be one of the most important documents concerning the development of the law on the continental shelf. It embodies some fundamental concepts in this respect, e.g. it asserted that a littoral state should have a right to the control and jurisdiction of the resources of the continental shelf contiguous to the coast of the state and it mentioned that the boundary of the continental shelf should be determined by the states concerned in accordance with equitable principles. Following this proclamation, many countries claimed their rights to the continental shelf with different enactments.