Declaration of Judge Parra-Aranguren

892

DECLARATION OF JUDGE PARRA-ARANGUREN

1. Notwithstanding my vote in favour of the operative clause of the
Judgment, I feel it necessary to make the following point.
2. Paragraph 136 of the Judgment states: “the Court considers that
the provisions of the Pact of Bogotá and the declarations made under the
optional clause represent two distinct bases of the Court’s jurisdiction

Separate opinion of Judge Ranjeva

886

SEPARATE OPINION OF JUDGE RANJEVA

[Translation]

Correspondence between Nicaragua’s requests and the subject-matter of the
Judgment — Interim decision on the merits or judgment on a preliminary objec-
tion — Declaration of the validity of the 1928 Treaty — Status of the three
islands and ending of the dispute — Closeness of links between the merits and
the procedural law — Nicaragua’s dual claim: possessory and petitory — Com-

Declaration of Judge ad hoc Gaja

827

DECLARATION OF JUDGE AD HOC GAJA

While I am in agreement with the rest of the operative part of the Judg-
ment and with most of the reasons given, I do not share the view that
maritime areas lying south of the 14°59.8′N parallel should be attributed
to Honduras as part of its territorial sea.
According to Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Law

Separate Opinion of Judge Koroma

774

SEPARATE OPINION OF JUDGE KOROMA

Employment of bisector consistent with jurisprudence on maritime delimita-
tion — Geographical features of area at heart of delimitation — Choice of
method depends upon particular circumstances of the area to be delimited —
Equidistance method when appropriate but not obligatory — Bisector also a
geometric method and its relation to coastal geography — Articles 15, 74, para-

Separate Opinion of Judge Ranjeva

765

SEPARATE OPINION OF JUDGE RANJEVA

[Translation]

Special circumstances and delimitation of the territorial sea — Rule-making
or corrective function — Geomorphology and course of the provisional equidis-
tance line — Notion of necessity and alternative course of the provisional line —
Bisector and equidistance line — History of Article 15 of the 1982 United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — Development of jurisprudence —

A largely settled debate — Reversal of jurisprudence — “Particular circum-
stances”.

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