comments section is provided as a free service to our readers. Gotham Gazette's editors reserve the right to delete any comments. Some reasons why comments might get deleted: inappropriate or offensive content, off-topic remarks or spam.

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Gotham Gazette is published by Citizens Union Foundation and is made possible by support from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Altman Foundation,the Fund for the City of New York and donors to Citizens Union Foundation. Please consider supporting Citizens Union Foundation's public education programs. Critical early support to Gotham Gazette was provided by the Charles H. Revson Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.North Sea Continental Shelf case

Principle: Ratification after signature is required to consequently make that party liable to obey the treaty.

Fact: On 1 December 1964, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Netherlands concluded an agreement for the partial delimitation of the boundary near the coast. On 9 June 1965, the Federal Republic of Germany and Denmark concluded a similar agreement. The three States failed to reach an agreement on the boundaries beyond the limits of the partial delimitations. Denmark and the Netherlands both contended that the boundaries should be determined in accordance with the principle of equidistance. The delimitation of the boundaries near the coast had been made on the basis of this principle, but the Federal Republic of Germany considered that the prolongation of these boundaries would