Jean-Pierre Bouvet

preliminary research paper to be the basic ideas of the co-authorship suggested by Thomas Wälde, and as delivered to Elizabeth Bastida of the Dundee CEPMLP in june 2005 :

Foreword : used vocabulary,
- 'unity of deposit'
- 'law of the unity of deposit'
- 'international law'
- 'unit operation'
- 'unitization'
- 'divided deposit'
- 'common deposit'

Preliminary Summary text (main idea of the text quoted hereafter only) :

From an international law perspective, the unity of deposit as a relationship between States is associated with a single mineral field which is either divided by a boundary line or within a delimitation process. The concept applies to all minerals located on the surface or under the subsoil, on land or submerged land, regardless of their chemical or physical status.

The basic text under international law is the decision of the International Court of Justice in the North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (1969), with regard to two situations indicated which are materially different (§ 97 & § 99).

Therefore, the concept of unity of deposit can focus all reflections and explanations in connection with these two international situations, regardless of the inherent nature of the deposits.

Pour l'essentiel, on peut dire qu'un droit de l'unité de gisement s'est constitué qui est passé dans le droit positif par le canal de la coutume. The paper argues that, under current positive law, the law of the unity of deposit is customary international law, lequel s'est constitué à partir de la pratique minière traditionnelle et s'applique aujourd'hui et pareillement au pétrole et au gaz.

To be short here, the idea is : all situations one law.