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286 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
occupation or exploitation to perfect them’.1 On the other hand,
M. W. Mouton, disagreeing with Green, states that ‘title to resources
can only be obtained from a convention to be concluded’.2 However,
J. L. Kunz maintains that although the doctrine of the continental
shelf ‘is not yet a norm of general customary international law, but
in view of the practice of a number of States, the lack of protests, and
the general consent of writers, with the exception of Scelle ... it can
be considered as a new norm of general customary international law
[and] there is a clear tendency toward the coming into existence of this
new norm.’3
A similar view was also taken by the International Law Commission
in the comments on its 1953 Report.4 In the Arabian Gulf, the legal
effects arising from the Rulers’ proclamations of 1949 are, in the
words of D. J. Padwa:
That each of the littoral States accepts the doctrine of the continental shelf
and the necessary implication of exclusive use. In any controversy between
two or more States accepting that principle, their public utterances can be
asserted against them. One State having made a proclamation cannot with
respect to another such State, allege that a particular submarine area may
be freely exploited by either or both parties.5

(d) Definition of the Arabian Gulf offshore areas on the basis of the
principles of the Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf 195SG
This is the first multilateral convention which embodies the continental
shelf as a legal concept. It resulted from the Conference of the Inter­
national Law of the Sea, held in Geneva from 24 February to 27 April.
The Convention on the Continental Shelf, which comprises 15 Articles,
was adopted by the States represented in the Conference on 26 April
1958.7 Article 11 of the Convention provides that it ‘shall come into
force on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the twenty-
second instrument of ratification or accession with the Secretary-
General of the United Nations’. The convention has recently entered
into force after receiving its 22nd ratification, following its ratification
1 Mouton, M. W., The Continental Shelf (1952), p. 329, quoting L. C. Green
from his article on the Continental Shelf in Current Legal Problems (1951), p. 79.
2 Mouton’s Book, op. cit., p. 329.
3 Kunz, J. L., ‘The Continental Shelf and International Law: Confusion and
Abuse’, A.J.I.L., 50 (1956), p. 832.
4 International Law Commission, Report of 1953, 5th Session, U.N.G.A.,
Official Records, 8th Session, Suppl. No. 9 (A/2456), p. 73.
6 Padwa, D. J., ‘Submarine Boundaries’, I.C.L.Q., 9 (1960), p. 639.
4 Convention on the Continental Shelf, 1958 (A/CONF. 13/L.55). And see
The Society of Comparative Legislation and International Law, London, The
Law of the Sea: The Final Act and Annexes of the United Nations Conference on the
Law of the Seaf Geneva (1958) pp. 24-7.
7 For a description of the proceedings of the Conference, sec Auguste, op. cit.,
pp. 94-5.