The North Sea Continental Shelf Cases

The North Sea Continental Shelf Cases were a series of legal disputes in the 1960s between Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands over the rights to exploit natural resources in the North Sea seabed. The International Court of Justice ruled that the boundaries should be determined by equidistance principles, meaning that countries should have equal access to resources based on their coastlines. This case was significant in international law, establishing important principles regarding maritime boundaries and resource rights in continental shelves, influencing how countries negotiate and define their territorial waters today.