North Sea Exploration: A Case History

with the British Isles with only the minor interruption of the Norwegian trench, and extends for a hundred miles or more west and north-west from Ireland and Scotland. Interest in exploring the part of the marine area beneath the North Sea arose at the time when the Geneva Convention was under discussion, so that a legal basis for natural division of the area and hence a systematic development under Government licence and protection became available at the critical time. Without this there could have been unilateral declarations of title by littoral nations leading to subsequent contention, or an individual organization of any nationality could have exercised the 'law of capture' by occupying a chosen area in international waters.