Why so serious? The importance of (fictional) maps in international law

Why do states take maps so seriously? What role do they play in the international legal order? And how do international courts take them into consideration? We discuss all of this and more, with an eye to the ongoing Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela) case at the International Court of Justice.  Guests:  Dr Yusra Suedi, Lecturer in International Law at the University of Manchester.  Dr Brendan Plant, Hopkins–Parry Fellow and Director of Studies in Law at Downing College, University of Cambridge.  Prof Krista Wiegand, Professor in International Relations at the University of Tennessee,   Mr William Worster, Senior Lecturer at The Hague University of Applied Sciences    Hosts:  Dr Carl Lewis, Researcher in Public International Law, TMC Asser Institute  Ms Miranda Lalla, Student in the Advanced LLM in Public International Law, Leiden University and Intern, TMC Asser Institute    Related Works:   Bendel J and Suedi Y, Public Interest Litigation in International Law (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2024).   Plant B, ‘Arbitral Award of Oct. 3, 1899 (Guy. V. Venez.) (Decision on Jurisdiction) (I.C.J.)’ (2021) 60 International Legal Materials 1112.   Powell EJ and Wiegand KE, The Peaceful Resolution of Territorial and Maritime Disputes (Oxford University press 2023).   Riddell A and Plant B, Evidence before the International Court of Justice (British Inst of Internat Comparative Law 2011).   Suedi Y, ‘Man, Land and Sea: Local Populations in Territorial and Maritime Disputes before the International Court of Justice’ (2021) 20 The Law & Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 30.  ——, ‘Man, Land and Sea: Local Populations in Territorial and Maritime Disputes before the International Court of Justice’ <https://cil.nus.edu.sg/blogs/man-land-and-sea-local-populations-in-territorial-and-maritime-disputes-before-the-international-court-of-justice-an-introduction/> accessed 8 February 2024.  Worster WT, ‘The Frailties of Maps as Evidence in International Law’ (2018) 9 Journal of International Dispute Settlement 570.   ——, ‘Maps Serving as Facts of Law in International Law’ (2018) 33 Connecticut Journal of international law 278.