II Treaty Interpretation and Other Treaty Points, Division B: Other Treaty Points, Ch.I: Preliminary Matters

It was suggested in the earlier article in this series that ‘international law has acquired, on the impulsion of the North Sea decision, and now of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a genuine pactum de contrahendo’,7 in the sense of an ‘obligation to reach agreement’.8 It was there explained that, although the obligation to negotiate a solution to a maritime delimitation dispute provided for in Articles 74 and 83 of the Convention does not clearly predefine its solution, so as to become, in effect, the end of the process rather than the...