Maritime Boundary Delimitation in a Federal Domestic Setting: The Newfoundland and Labrador v. Nova Scotia Arbitration

Abstract

The author reviews an award rendered in March 2002 by a three-member arbitral tribunal established by the government of Canada in order to determine a maritime boundary between two Canadian provinces – Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The tribunal's Terms of Reference required it to treat the provinces as sovereign states and to apply principles of international maritime boundary law in order to determine the boundary dividing their respective offshore entitlements as defined under domestic federal legislation. Given this reference to international law and the underlying interests at issue, the tribunal's award amounts to a classic continental shelf delimitation and makes significant contributions to the jurisprudence on international maritime boundary delimitation.