Lecture de l'arrêt - Audience publique de la Chambre tenue le 11 septembre 1992, à 10 heures, au Palais de la Paix, sous la présidence de M. Sette-Camara, président de la Chambre

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

PLEADINGÇ. ORALARGUMENTS, DOCUMENTS

CASECONCERNING THE LAND, ISLAND
AND MARITIME FRONTIER DISPUTE

(EL SALVADORIHONDURAS NICARAGUA intervening}

VOLUME VI1
Conclusion of Oral Arg;Correspondence

COUR INTERNATIONALE DE JUSTICE

M~MOIRES,PLAGDOIRIESETDOCUMENTS

AFFAIREDU DIFFEREND FRONTALIER

TERRESTRE, INSULAIRE ET MARITIME

(ELSALVADORIHONDURAS; NICARAGUA (intervenanr))

Vol-UME VTT

Suitetfin dlaproceduorale; correspondance FTFTY-SEVENTHPUBLIC SITTING (11 IX 92, 10a.m.)

Present: [Seesitting of 151V 91, 10am.]

READINGOF THE JUDGMENT

The PRESIDENT OF THE CWAMBER: The Chamber of the International
Court of Justice formed under Article 26 of the Statute by an Order made by

the Court on 8 May 1987to deal with the case cancerning the Land Isl(indund
Murilime FrnntrerDispute (El Sulvurlor/Hondums:Ni~uruguainfervening)is sit-
ting today in arder to read its Judgment in the case in open court in accordance
with Article 58 of the Statute of the Court and Articles 93 and 94 of tlie Rules
of Court. It 1swith great pleasure that 1 note the prescnce in Court not only of
the Agents, counseland Advisersof the two Parties and of the intervening S~ate
but also of His ExçellencyDr, JoséManuel Pacas Castro, Minister for Foreign
Affairs of El Salvador and His ExcellencyDr. Mario Carias Zapata, Minister of
External Relations of Honduras.
Since the Court was seised or the inatter by joint notification of1I Decizin-
ber 1986,somc sixyearshaveelapsed during which the casehiisbeen dealt with in
depth, in al1the iiitricacicsof its complexity and the varieiy of its multifarious i
aspects.It hasprobably bcen the mostextensivecase everentertained hythe Court,
involvingthree rounds of written pleadings totalling some 12,000pages and hear- 1
ings amounting io no Icss than 50 public sittings. The proçeedings also involved
the intervention of Nicaragua, the first instance in the hisofrthcCourt, or its
prcdecessor,in whiçh interventionwas granted utider Article62 of the Statute.
During this long and Iaborioiislydealt with case the questions of laand füct
were multiple and difficult. The fundamental principle of i~tipossid~ris jjuri~
which was at the basis of most af the deçisions and findings of the Chamber
involved cornplex problems of definition and application due to the "lack of
trustworthy information during the colonial time with respect toa large part of
the territoryin dispute", to use the language of the 1933 Arbitral Award of
Chief Justice Hughes. The uncertainty and the ever changing course of the
delimitations of the administrative units of the Spanish Empire made it

extremely difficultto establfsh ~heu!ipnaicletis juriline of 1821, date of the
independence of the Central American Republics.
The determination of the legal situationof the islands in dispute and of the
Gulf of Fonseca, an historic bay of a so generous character surrounded by the
Coast of three States whose waters are subject to a speciül régimeand of the
maritime spaces outside the GuIf, were equally marked by extreme doubts and
difficulties. This dispute, whi~h can be traced back to 1861 when thc first
proposüls for negotiations concerning a section of the land boundary was put
foward by El Salvador and which has been the object of al1 sorts of efforts
towards the peaceful stttlement through negotiations, conferenes, mediations
and frustrüted arbitrarioil agreements which are mentionedin detail in the Judg-
ment, was iiot fully resolvcd even by the concEusionof the General Treaty of
Peace of 1980and has cornefinallyto the adjudication of the Court. It has becn
the source of misunderstandings and frictions betweentwo sister republics which
even did reach thepoint of armed conflict in 1969. READING OF TI-IEJUDGMENT 487

The present Judgment, on a case of siich considerable coinplexityand diver-
sity was tlie result oa cdreful and detailed examination of the aspects of every
question involvedand most of its findings represent theunanimous agreenient of
the Members of the Chamber. Itis inevitablethat one or the othcr Party will not
he fully satisfied with the result of certain specific poiiits. The Chambet is
nevertheless convincedthat ithas reached conclusions that are soundly based in

lawand thus the more likelyto open the door to definitivesoliitions for dificult
and long-lasting problemsdividing the two Parties
The Chamber considers it 11sduty to appeal to both Parties to take the neces-
sary measures to carry out fully the present Judgment so as to lay the founda-
lions for understanding and friendly relations between the~n,together with the
establishment of the necessary machinery capable of assuring the pacific and
successfuldevelopment of the two countries.
The decision of the Chambcr delivered today is the result of great efforts and
ceaselesssearch for the right waysand means of adue administration of justice.
The Chamber trusts that the result of its strenuous labours will be recognized by
the Parties as a just and equitable decision capable of putting an end to one of
the longest and most cornplex conrroversies among Latin Ameriçan States. If

executed with goodwilland bona rides.we believethat this Judgment is going to
be ail important contribution for bringing pcace, understanding and progress to
a region of the American continent and to its people so often victimizedby suf-
feringsdue to the scourgeof coiiflicts and disputes.
Article 58 of the Statutc of Ihe Court to which 1 have alrcady referred pro-
vides that the Judgment sliall be read in open court. The Statute docs iiot how-
evcr require that every word of a judgment be read and the Court has over the
yearsestablished a practice whercbycertain parts of a judgment, for instance the
qualités- which set out the procedural history of the case and the parties' sub-
missions - are ornitted altogther and other passages are summarized in order
to make it possible for the essenceof the qudgment to be read in open court
within the temporal ltmits of a singlethree-hour sitting.

In the present casein which theJudpent uns to a total of 183pages of close
typescript,the ft~llestadvantügekas tobe taken of thia wisepracticeof the Court.
Much of what 1am noi goingto read willthereforcbe sumrnarized,thoiigh incor-
porating extelisivequotntions of the full text of key passages. The operativc
clauseswill of course be read in full, including the detailed referenceswhich they
contain of geographicalco-ordinales and the mapsattüched tothe Judynent.
Fhe President summarizes püragraphs 1 to 67'.]

Before summarizing the parts of the Judgment devoted to the six sectors of
the land boundary, 1should explüinthat the Judgment is illustrated by a number
of sketch-maps showing in respect of each of the disputed scctors, of kheland
boundary, the claims of the Parties and illustrating various aspects of the argu-
ment. Also annexedis a map showing the wholc frontier with a key to the posi-
tion of the sketch-mapsalid the map of the Gulf of Fonseca. The operative part
of the Chamber's Judgmentdefines the Iand boundary sectors by reference to

CO-ordinatesor latitude and longitude and turning points identified by Eetters
shown on maps to a scale of 1150,000aitached to the Judgment. Al1rcferenceto
these maps will be omitted from this rsading, exceptin the operative clauses.
[The President summarizes paragraphs 68 to 474 2.]

' IC J Reports 1992,pp. 356-401.
1C.J Rcporss 1992,pp. 401-610.488 DISPLITE (EL SALVADO~HDNDUKAS)

1 now cornete the operative clauses of the Judgrnent which deal successively
with the six sectorsof the land boundary. the Iegal situation of the waters and
the legal s~tuationof the maritime spaces.After 1haveread each of theseclauses
in English, 1 shall ask the Registrar to read that clause in French accordinto
the practice.

phe President of the Chamber and the Registrar alternatively read in English
and inFrench the operative clauses(paras. 425 to 432j3.]
Vice-President Oda appends a declaration to the Judpcnt. Judges ud iiuc
Valticas and Torres Bernardez append separate opinions. VicePresident Oda
appends a disscnting opinion.
The Judgnient has been read today from a typed text of which a limited
number of copies have been reprnduçed. Copies of the maps of the land bound-

ary sectors are also available for inspection by the press and the public. The
usual printed version of the Judgrnent for inclusion in the Court's series of
Reports will be publiçhed indue course. But as a resultof the sheer siz of the
Judgment, this will take severalweeks.The work of the Chamber formed todeal
with ihiscase isthus concluded and 1declare the sitting closed.

(SigrtedJJoséSETTE-CAMAKA,
President of the Chamber.

(Sigttcd)Eduardo VALENCIA-OSPINA,
Registrar.