Jonathan Bautista

Anjelo Misa
Nikko Franchello Santos
 Previously

Dispute over the Gulf of Fonseca
between El Salvador and
Nicaragua
It is the legal obligation of the
Government of Nicaragua to restore
and maintain the legal status
existed between two countries
before the conclusion of the Bryan-
 Today

ElSalvador and
Honduras
(Nicaragua intervening,
not as a party)
Disputed Area


 1986
SUBMISSION OF DISPUTE

By Joint Notification (filed with
the Registry of International
Court of Justice).
Honduras and El Salvador
transmitted a copy of Special
Agreement for the submission
 1989
FORMATION OF CHAMBER

The Court formed the Chamber
to deal with the case.
Decided that Nicaragua could
intervene in the case, but not as
a party.
(solely in respect of the question of
the status of the waters of the Gulf
 HONDURAS
Within the Gulf
Honduras asked for delimitation of the
maritime boundary inside and outside
Gulf of Fonseca by means of a line to be
determined by the chamber of the Court
and that the two states was entitled to
exercise its powers within zones to be
precisely delimited between El Salvador
and Honduras.
Past treaty and special agreement for the
determination of the legal situation of the
maritime spaces do not provide for
 Honduras view on how the
delimiting zones should be establish

WITHIN THE GULF
Should consist of line equidistant
from the low water-line of the
mainland and island coasts of the
two states up to a certain point.
From where a line joining a series
of points situated at a distance of 3
 OUTSIDE THE GULF

A line starting from the closing
line at a distance of 3 Nautical
miles from the coast of El
Salvador and running out 200 NM
from that point, thus delimiting
the territorial sea, exclusive

 EL SALVADOR
Chamber has no jurisdiction to effect
delimitation .
That there no dispute between Parties
as to the delimitation of the waters of the
Gulf Fonseca.
Approved strongly of the condominium
concept in the waters of the Gulf
established in the 1917 judgment.
(with respect to proposed delimitation
outside the gulf) The only State which
 CONDOMINIUM CONCEPT

A political territory in or
over which multiple
sovereign powers formally
agree to share equal
dominion and exercise
 RULING

The International Court of Justice rule on the
following:

1) Delimitation of the maritime

boundary
2) Legal situation of the
waters of the gulf
3) Possibility of condominium
 DELIMITATION of the
MARITIME BOUNDARY

CHAMBER HAS NO
JURISDICTION
For the chamber to have
authority to delimit maritime
boundaries it must have been
given a mandate to do so,
 LEGAL SITUATION of the
WATERS OF THE GULF

Uti Possidetis Principle- That newly
formed sovereign states should have
the same borders that their preceding
area had before their independence.
History and records provides, The Gulf
was a single-state bay under Spanish
Domain until the three riparian States
(Honduras, El Salvador, and
The rights in the Gulf of the

present coastal State were
thus acquired by succession
from Spain.

Applying the said principle

and reiterating the decision of
1917 it follows that the Gulf of
Fonseca belongs to the three
 Possibility of
Condominium Concept

Honduras: Condominia
could only be established by
agreement
While the absence of
delimitation between three
countries did not always result
in community, the
undelimited waters of Gulf
had remained undivided and
in a state of community, which
entailed a condominium or co-
ownership of those waters.
The existence of a
 Legal Situation of the
Waters Outside the Gulf

It was decided by the Court
that the closing line of the Gulf
constituted the coast.
Given the condominium of the
waters in the Gulf, it followed
that there was a tri-partite
And that Honduras was not
locked out fromrights in
respect of the ocean waters
outside the bay.
That the three sovereign state
has an entitlement outside the
closing line to a territorial sea,
a continental shelf, and an