The Minquiers and Ecrehos Case (France v. U.K.)
International Court of Justice
1953 I.C.J. 47
France (plaintiff) and the United Kingdom (defendant) agreed to submit their dispute over sovereignty of the Minquiers and Ecrehos islands to the ICJ. France argued British ownership ended when France drove England out of Normandy in 1204; the U.K. argued the islands themselves were never separately conquered. The U.K. presented a 1309 royal land inventory including Ecrehos, records of 19th-century criminal proceedings on Jersey for crimes committed on Ecrehos, and local property, census, and licensing records for Ecrehos held in Jersey's archives.
Whether nations must consent to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice before it may resolve a dispute between them, and which nation held valid sovereignty over the disputed islands based on the historical evidence presented.