Johor Sultanate
The Court agreed with Malaysia that the Johor Sultanate had original title to Pedra Branca, rejecting Singapore's argument that the island was "terra nullius". It found it was not disputed that Johor had established itself as a sovereign state with a certain territorial domain in Southeast Asia since it came into existence in 1512. As Pedra Branca had always been known as a navigational hazard in the Singapore Strait, which was a vital channel for international navigation in east–west trade between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, it was inconceivable that the island had remained undiscovered by the local community. It was therefore reasonable to infer that Pedra Branca lay within the general geographical scope of the Johor Sultanate. Further, during the existence of the old Johor Sultanate, there was no evidence of any competing claims over the islands in the Singapore Strait. It also agreed with Malaysia's submission that descriptions of the relationship between the Sultan of Johor and the "Orang Laut" in 19th-century official British reports proved that the Sultan exercised sovereign authority over the "Orang Laut". Since the "Orang Laut" made the islands in the Singapore Strait their habitat, this confirmed the "ancient original title" of the Johor Sultanate to those islands, including Pedra Branca. As regards Singapore's argument that the traditional concept of Malay sovereignty was based on control over people rather than territory, the Court observed that sovereignty comprises control over both persons and territory. However, it was not necessary to deal with the point further as it had already found that Johor had territorial sovereignty over Pedra Branca.