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Abstract |
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It was because the promising potential for discovery of oil and gas on the continental shelf around the Island of
Rockall, namely on the Rockall Plateau, came to be recognized in the middle of the 1970s that the dispute over the
delimitation of the continental shelves and the 200 nautical mile fishing zones among the neighbouring countries
−the U.K.,Ireland,Iceland and Denmark− erupted.In this dispute the U.K.at first used the Island of Rockall as the
base point from which she measured her 200 nautical mile fishing zone. In this article, with the difference of
interpretation on islands or rocks in the Article121of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in mind,
I would like to resolve the issue of the sovereignty over that Island before examining whether that Island is included
in Article 121(3).
Judging from the evidence that has been examined in this article,in particular the traditional formal annexation
of that Island by the U.K.in 1955without any protests by any countries,an annual visit to that Island by the British
navy, the inclusion of that Island as part of Scotland for legal and administrative purposes by the Island of Rockall
Act 1972, the statement of Ireland that she was unconcerned about the British claim to that Island itself with the
absence of protest by her,we could conclude that at the time at the latest the Island of Rockall Act 1972was enacted
British sovereignty over that Island has been legally established. |
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