North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (Federal Republic of Germany v. Denmark; Federal Republic of Germany v. Netherlands)
International Court of Justice
1969 I.C.J. 3
Relevant factsFree
Denmark and the Netherlands argued that the equidistance principle in Article 6 of the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf bound non-party Germany as customary international law, while Germany disputed that the principle had achieved that status.
IssueFree
Whether, for a practice to be considered customary international law, states engaged in the practice must subjectively believe they are performing a legal obligation.