ABSTRACT
The international court of justice (ICJ) liberated delimitation from a rigid relation to equidistance and added the choice of application of equitable principles. Gulf of Maine case inaugurates a trend to establishment of single maritime boundaries for both the exclusive economic zones and contintental shelf; international law does not forbid this. The Panel of the ICJ rejected United States arguments that coastal fronts could be categorised as of primary and secondary importance for delimitation purposes. Following the Gulf of Maine case, the Tribunal found that international law provided only certain legal principles, indicating the factors to be used to achieve an equitable solution. The Tribunal insisted that the delimitation must leave to each state the islands under its sovereignty. The court identified the median line between Malta and Libya, and also, curiously, the line that would result if Malta was an Italian possession but Italy received no share based on its sovereignty over Malta.
