Fisheries (United Kingdom v. Norway) - Public hearings of 1 October 1951

The following informtion froni the Ftcgistry of th2 Ii~ternzkional
Court of Jiîstice .ha5 been comrnu.niccltod to tl-iPrcss:

The' International Courtof Justice to-~L?~y(Gctober Ist, 1951)
held two hsnrings, in the cours;: 02 vrhch Sir Sric Bcc!rctt, IC.C., Agont
for th¢ United Kingdom, and Mr. R.G, IbJ'ilbcrforce,gf ths English &.r,
continucd and concludcdthc British ~rgui~cnt iil"tho Ang1.i-T$orweginn
Fisheries case,

Sir Eric 8cc!att pycsexltcd his Goverrimcnt 'ubr:dssions in the
czse, r.rhilc rescrving the xightta introduce nodifications t~ thcsc at
His submissionw sr¢ es follows:
thc closc of theornl procecciings .

That Momzy is entitlcd to a band of territorial watcrs cf fixed
1)
brcadkh - the breadth csmot, as rm;lmunz, excecd 4 sea miles,

(2) That in consequznce the outer limit DI Narway s territorial waters must
never be more than 4 sca miles from some point on the base lin?,

(3). That, subjcct ta (hl, (91 and (10) below, the baselin* must' bc low
water mark on pcrmncntly dry land (wl~ich is partof lbrwegian territery)or
the psoper closing line (sec 7 below) of P'orwegian iriternel waters.

(4) Thnt, where there is a low tide elev~tion situnicdwithin 4 sca r16les
of permnsnkljr dryland, or or" tha propsr closingline of'Ibrwcgian intcsnal
wcters, thc outer limit of territorial tmtcrs' my be L+ sca !piles from thc
outcr cdge (~~t low tide) of this low tide clGvzticn. 13 no othw cas2 fimy
a Law tide cl~vztion be iakm into accowit.

(5) ThntNorwayis cntitlcd io clnirrt2s Norvreginn intcrnal watcrs oïl
historic graunds all ijords and sunds, rrhiclifcll withinthe conccptian of
3 b2y a's deffncd iriinternc?tior?al lm;, ~k~th~r kh~ proscr cntranco to the

Lndent~~tion is more or lcss thnn 10 miles widc.

(6) That the d~finition of 2 bay in International law is c wcll-mrk~d
Indcntatioa1 ,q11osepciietrntio inlandis ia such prcportion to th2 ~Rclth of
ite mouth, as to constikutù ths indentztion mrc thzn n mcrc curv?*turc of
the const,

Thnt wherc an are2 of vsxkcr is a bay, tl-ic principlc vhich dct~rijlincs
wbere the closing line should Se dra~m is that "ce closing lirle should be
draw be tween the naturalgeographical eiltrance points , where the indenta-

tion ceascs to have the configuratio nf a bay.

(8) That a legal s-trait is any gsographlcalstraii which conneçts tim
portions of the high seas.

(9) Thzt Norway is entitled to claim ~s Piorwegian territorial waters,on
historie grounds, al1 the waiersof the fjords and sunds, which have the
character of a legalstrait. At eacn end of the strait, the maritime
beltsdram fr'roieach shore overlap, "thelimit of territorial waters is
forrned by the outer rims of thuse Lw
belts. Mhcre, howsver, the
marikirnt belts so drarm do not ovcrlap, the Simit follows the rims of each
of these trm mritixe balts, until they interscct with the straight line
joining the naturâl entrancc of the strait, after which inters~cticn the
limit Tollows that straight linc.(10) That the proper clostng line of the Vcstfjord zt thc south-westorly
end OS the fjord is th>,% shovm on Ci12rts î\Ios,$ and'y of Anncx 35 to thc
Roply .

(11) That ikrriray by reason of her historic titla to fjords and sunds, is
entitlod to claini sithcr as interna1 er tcrritorial rvatcrs, thc areasof
izratcrlying betv~cn thc islai~d r"rlngc arid thc inzinlznd. of I\Iorway, andin
ordcr to determine what areas must bc deemcdto lic bctwcon thc islznds 2nd
thc minland, and whcb'n~r thcy erc tcrritorial or intornnl waters, rccourse
nust bc had to Nos. 6 and 8 above, bcing thc dcfinitions of a bay and of
lcgal straits.

(12) Thzt IiJorway is not antitlcd as sgzinst the Uliitcd Kingdom Go enforcc
any claiin to takcrs rot covered by tlîc preccdi~g principlcs. As bct~vecn

igomfay artdthe Urilted ilingdoin rsatcrsoff thu const of IiTordanortb of
parallel 66' 28.8f N. whicii arc mt IVorl~egian by virtua of thc! above-
mcntioncd principlcs, arc hlgh saas.

(13 ) That iVoorwclis undcr an international obligntion to pay to th¢ Unitcd ,
Kingdom compensation in respect of the arrests of all British fishing
vesscls in -waters whkch arc hi& swas by drtu¢ of th2 application of th Lm
preecding principles.

The next hsarings wlll be devotcd to the Narwegian argumds, At

the roquestof thc I\Iorwegtan Agent, thc first of theso hcarings has bcen
iixed for Fridcy, Octobor 5th. 1% will begin at 10.30 a,n.

Thc Snguc, October lst, 1751.