Uti possidetis i crta sredine u kopnenim i morskim razgraničenjima : presuda Međunarodnog suda u Haagu - Kamerun-Nigerija iz 2002.
Uti possidetis and equidistance in land and maritime delimitations : Judgment of the International Court of Justice of 2002

Summary/Abstract: Uti possidetis is a general principle which is applicable on delimitation of frontiers between States in case that after their acquisition of independence they were unable to conclude new treaties in this subject-matter. In the present case Nigeria tried partly to challenge this general principle invoking its acts of sovereignty and oil concessions it granted in some of the disputed areas. There was inter alia the question of primacy of effectivités over the treaties from colonial period. The Court dismissed all claims of this type. Nigeria furthermore claimed that two agreements reached by disputing parties on partial delimitation of their maritime areas after their independence (Yaounde II and Maroua declarations) were not in force. The Court dismissed this allegation too on the basis of rules of customary law as embodied in the 1949 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In respect of the still unlimited areas of the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of the parties, it was Cameroon which attempted to obtain from the Court the delimitation line which encroaches the seaward projection from the Bioko island. This island situated in the Gulf of Guinea belongs to the Equatorial Guinea which was not a party to this dispute. The Court discarded this claim by defining the short relevant coastline of the disputing parties to which do not encroach the seaward projections of any third States. This Judgment further confirmed the method (or rule) of the equitable principles/relevant circumstances which is according to the Court very similar to the equidistance/special circumstances method applicable in delimitation of the territorial sea. It involves first the drawing an equidistance line, then considering whether there are factors calling for adjustment or shifting of that line in order to achieve an ''equitable result''. Confirming this method the Court finally abandoned its previous doctrine on the so called ''equitable principles'' as alleged principles and rules of international law, which formerly repudiated any use of equidistance line. That doctrine was first formulated in its 1969 Judgment on the North Sea Continental Shelf cases. This last Judgment of the International Court of Justice has strengthened the tendency in creation of a body of reliable principles and criteria for delimitation of all respective maritime areas between States. Their reasonable and unbiased application can lead to predictable results.

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