Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean

The author examines the ICJ judgment rendered in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean with a two-fold objective. First, the decision is one of the rare occasions on which the Court examined a reservation to its jurisdiction based on a preexisting agreement to pursue alternative means of dispute settlement, and provides a good starting point to study one of the most common kinds of reservation to optional clause declarations. Second, the interpretation of the declaration departs from the Court’s traditional approach to optional clause declarations and the decision is useful to compare the two approaches and their implications.