A Study On The Identification Of Tacit Agreement In The Maritime Delimitation Cases

In the maritime delimitation cases,the tacit agreement is a kind of maritime boundary agreement,which establishes maritime boundary in the implied way between the States.The identification of tacit agreement is the legal determination process of tacit agreement by the international judicial bodies.The identification of tacit agreement has gone through the development of the cases of"Tunisia v.Libya","Cameroon v.Nigeria","Guyana v.Suriname"and so on.Finally,the International Court of Justice established the standard on the identification of tacit agreement in the case of’’Nicaragua v.Honduras",and defined the content of the standard.This standard contains a"compelling"standard of proof as the core content,with distinct practical characteristics,but still has a considerable degree of limitations.With the application of the standard by the International Court of Justice in the"Peru v.Chile"and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in the"Ghana v.Cote d’Ivoire",it has made substantial improvements.This paper further analyzes the standard and explains the meaning of" compelling"to enhance its stability and applicability.According to the different forms of evidence carrier,this paper divides the evidences of tacit agreement into official written documents(including treaties,declarations,diplomatic documents and meeting minutes),state conducts(including oil activities,fishery activities and patrol activities),affidavits and domestic legislations,recognitions by the third countries and international organizations,maps and other kinds of evidence.The proof contents of these evidences are distinguishing,and there are outstanding differences on probative forces.Besides,every kind of evidence has its own criteria forjudging the probative forces.After the identification of tacit agreement by the international judicial bodies,a series of legal effects will generate,mainly in the aspects of the impact on the maritime delimitation and the states concerned.The identification of tacit agreement clarifies the situation of the disputed maritime boundary and further affects the process of maritime delimitation,and even the result of maritime delimitation.At the same time,it directly or indirectly influences the relevant litigation requests of the states concerned,and then decides the legality and sustainability of the state conducts in the disputed waters.China has suffered from maritime delimitation disputes with its neighbors for a long time.It’s difficult to achieve legitimate territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.The tacit agreement may provide new perspectives and legal basis of international law for China to advocate and safeguard maritime rights.For example,from the appearance of tacit agreement,"the Dotted Line of the South China Sea"may constitute a tacit agreement.Although there are insufficient evidences to prove the claim at this stage,there is a great possibility of realization in the future,which is meaningful and beneficial for China to protect maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.The tacit agreement may also become a tool of neighboring states to claim their rights.Japan may use"the middle line"as a tacit agreement to add weight to the delimitation of the East China Sea continental shelf between China and Japan,which would affect the realization of China’s maritime rights and interests in the East China Sea.Therefore,it is of great practical significance to study the issue of tacit agreement,to find an effective path for China to maintain maritime rights,or to respond to the claim of neighboring states.