Mississippi v. Tennessee; City of Memphis Tennessee; and Memphis Light, Gas, & Water Division Amicus Curiae Brief for The International Law Committee of The New York City Bar Association in Support of Neither Party

SUMMARY 

The International Law Committee filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court in Mississippi v. Tennessee. The case involves a matter of first impression: when is a groundwater aquifer a transboundary resource, and should transboundary groundwater be subject to the doctrine of equitable apportionment? In the brief, the City Bar argues that the Court should consider principles of international law and, in particular, provisions of the United Nations 1997 Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses and the United Nations International Law Commission 2006 Draft Articles on “The Law of Transboundary Aquifers” which aim to tailor the principles of the Convention specifically to groundwater.