국제사법재판소의 흑해해양경계획정사건 판결에 나타난 특징분석

International Court of Justice(ICJ) decided the Case Concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea between Romania and Ukraine in 2009. Originally, this case was about maritime delimitation between the two countries. However, the judgement delivered by the World Court is said to have contributed to the development of jurisprudence on maritime delimitation. In the past, the most important issue in law of the sea was what the principle in maritime delimitation is. However, the most important issue in maritime delimitation nowadays is shifted to finding the method to reach an equitable resolution. The Court thoroughly considered the so called three-stage method which is composed of construction of interim delimitation line, adjustment of the line considering relevant circumstances, and confirmation of equitableness. Given that the use of a few basepoints has become popular in delimiting boundary lines, selecting and using the most appropriate points has gained more importance. In the Black Sea case, ICJ worked to find appropriate points on the relevant coasts to construct interim equidistant delimitation line. The most complicated issue facing the ICJ was deciding the legal status of islands to determine the effect on the delimitation lines. Serpents' Island, which is located 20 nautical miles off from Ukraine coast, was in the core of the Black Sea case. The World Court neither approved establishing basepoint on the island nor recognized the island as a relevant circumstance requiring adjustment of the interim delimitation lines. Unlike many international lawyers' expectation, ICJ failed to clearly interpret the Article 121 of the Law of the Sea Convention.