as they exist at a particular date, and reference should be made to fixed permanent identifiable points on the land. Judgment An important question the Court answered was if the equidistance principle was, at the date of the ruling, a customary international law binding on all States. The Court argued that it is indeed possible for Conventions, while only contractual in origin, to pass into the corpus of international law, and thus become binding for countries which have never become parties to the Convention. However, the Court noted that 'this result is not lightly to be regarded as having been attained' (para 71). For the aforegoing to happen, it would first be necessary that the provision should be of a fundamentally norm creating character, i.e. a general rule of law. In case, the obligation of the equidistance method came second, after the primary obligation to effect delimitation by agreement. The court decides this is an unusual preface for it to be a general rule of law. Furthermore, the Court took in notion that the scope and meaning relating to the equidistance as embodied in Article 6 remained unclear. In para 74, the Court argues that while the passage of any considerable period of time is not a requirement, it is an indispensable requirement that within the period in question State practice should have been both extensive and virtually uniform in the sense of the provision invoked. Moreover, as stated in para 77, the practice must also, as a subjective element, stem from a notion of opinio juris sive necessitatis. In other words, the States concerned must feel they are conforming to what amounts to a legal obligation. The Court ultimately urged the parties to "abat[e] the effects of an incidental special feature [Germany's concave coast] from which an unjustifiable difference of treatment could result." In subsequent negotiations, the states granted to Germany most of the additional shelf it sought. The cases are viewed as an example of "equity praeter legem"—that is, equity "beyond the law"—when a judge supplements the law with equitable rules necessary to decide the case at hand. See also List of International Court of Justice cases Coastline paradox Notes North Sea Continental shelves of Europe International Court of Justice cases 1969 in international relations 1969 in case law Denmark–Germany border Germany–Netherlands border 1969 in Denmark 1969 in West Germany 1969 in the Netherlands International law