A compromissory article in the Convention which covered such disputes would be effective only insofar as it permitted unilateral referral to a third party when bilateral methods fail, but the negotiation of any compromissory clause has proven extremely difficult. One group of countries refuses to accept any third-party system which is compulsory; the other group rejects any procedure which is not compulsory. Compromise efforts have focused on formulae which would exempt only some boundary disputes from compulsory settlement. An exception for disputes which predate the Convention has drawn the most attention, but the complete exception of this category would eliminate all the disputes which are politically important at the Conference. Other compromise possibilities have assumed that all delimitation disputes would ultimately be subject to some sort of compulsory jurisdiction. Some would moderate the effects of the compulsion by using nondispositive or nonbinding third-party procedures and by inserting preliminary stages before the final delimitation. A total of 114 notes are provided. (Author abstract modified)