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Territory in International Law*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 July 2009
Extract
The international community is formed first and foremost by states, which were defined by Vattel as “political bodies, societies of men who have united together and combined their forces in order to procure their mutual welfare and security”. The element missing from this definition relates to the need for a territorial basis for such political bodies. This necessity, however, is self-evident. As Oppenheim has noted, “a State without a territory is not possible”. This does not mean that territoriality is a criterion of personality in international law, but statehood is inconceivable in the absence of a reasonably defined geographical base. The frontiers of such an entity need not be established beyond dispute, nor is there any prescribed minimum of territory for the existance of a state, but some piece of land is essential before one can accept the establishment and continuation of a state.
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References
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132. See Johnson, loc.cit., p. 215.
133. Jennings notes that the case of the emergence of a new state is “by far the most important case of territorial change at the present time” and that international law here is “singularly undeveloped, uncertain and … comparatively unstudied”, The Acquisition of Territory in International Law (1963) p. 12Google Scholar. See also Starke, , “The Acquisition of Title to Territory by Newly Emerged States”, 41 BYIL (1965-1966) p. 411.Google Scholar
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136. Cavaglieri notes the doctrine which declares that sovereignty is not transmissible between states. The cessionary state will exercise its power and sovereignty over the region rendered terra nullius by withdrawal of the ceding state's sovereign power, loc.cit., p. 403.
137. See Reparation Commission v. German Government, AD, 1923–4, no. 199. Huber stated in the Island of Palmas case that “it is evident that Spain could not transfer more rights than she herself possessed”, 2 RIAA pp. 829.
138. Op.cit., p. 292. Huber declared that the new land accrued to a “portion of territory where there exists an actual sovereignty capable of extending to a spot which falls within its sphere of activity”., 2 RIAA pp. 829, 839.
139. See in particular Kelsen, op.cit., pp. 420–32, and De Visscher, op.cit., pp. 3, 8, 32.
140. It should, however, be noted that acquisition by prescription may be harder than acquisition by occupation, since there is a presumption against loss of title by the former sovereign, and since acquiescence by the former sovereign is required.
141. Op.cit., p. 209. See also the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, ICJ Reports, 1951, pp. 116, 138.
142. Ibid. Prescription depends upon the possession by one state of the territory of another and relies upon the passage of time and the acquiescence of the displayed sovereign, see Johnson, , “Acquisitive Prescription in International Law”, 27 BYIL (1950) pp. 332, 349 and 353Google Scholar. See also Becket, , “Les Questions d'Interet General Permanente de Justice Internationale”, 50 Hague Recueil (1939 IV) pp. 189, 218–55Google Scholar. Occupation does not apply to maritime areas, see De Visscher, op.cit., p. 209.
143. Op.cit., footnote 124, p. 223.
144. Op.cit., p. 26.
145. ICJ Reports, 1951, pp. 116, 1389, and see also Ibid., p. 130.
146. See MacGibbon, , “The Scope of Acquiescence in International Law”, 31 BYIL (1954) pp. 143, 160.Google Scholar
147. Jennings, op.cit., pp. 25–6, emphasis added.
148. See O'Connell, op.cit., p. 407. Note also Jennings' criticism that the notion of consolidation is based upon “the merest hint in the case reports” op.cit. p. 27.
149. Island of Palmas case, 2 RIAA, pp. 829, 839.
150. 2 RIAA, pp. 829, 840.
151. PCIJ Series A/B no. 53.
152. 2 RIAA, p. 1105.
153. ICJ Reports, 1953, p. 47.
154. See the Island of Palmas case, 2 RIAA pp. 829, 840. See also Von der, Heydte, “Discovery, Symbolic Annexation and Virtual Effectiveness in International Law”, 29 AJIL (1935) pp. 462–3.Google Scholar
155. Ibid., p. 846. See also Von der Heydte, op.cit., p. 448 et seq.
156. Ibid., p. 869. See also, the Beagle Channel award HMSO (1977) and Jennings, op.cit., pp. 74–6.
157. Hill, , Claims to Territory in International Law and Relations (1945) p. 152Google Scholar. See also Westlake, op.cit., pp. 114–5.
158. See Corbett, , Law and Society in the Relations of States (1951) pp. 95–6.Google Scholar
159. The Island of Palmas case, 2 RIAA pp. 829, 839.
160. Ibid., presumably a state.
161. See e.g., Jennings, op.cit., pp. 28–31 and Jessup, , 22 AJIL (1928) pp. 735, 739–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Minquiers and Ecrehos case, ICJ Reports, 1953, pp. 47, 56.
162. Note also the strong tendency not to change a “state of things” which actually exists and has existed for a long time”, the Grisbadarna case, I Scott, Hague Court Reports, pp. 121, 130.
163. See Island of Palmas case, 2 RIAA, pp. 829 and 870.
164. The reference here is not to consent or acquiescence as regards the creation of rules of international law.
165. See generally McDougal, and Feliciano, , Law and Minimum World Public Order (1961) pp. 733–6 and 739–44Google Scholar, Stone, op.cit. pp. 744–51 and Oppenheim, op.cit. Vol. II p. 618.
166. SCOR, 16th year, 987th meeting, especially paras. 46, 60 and 74.
167. See also the case of Ifni, Mathy, , “L'Autodetermination de Petits Territoires Revindiques par Etats Tiers (deuxieme partie)” Revue Beige de Droit International (1975) p. 129Google Scholar and the comments of the International Court in the Western Sahara case, ICJ Reports, 1975, pp. 12, 35.
168. S/5033.
169. See Elliot, , “The East Timor Dispute”, 27 ICLQ (1978) p. 238Google Scholar; Guilhaudis, , “La Question de Timor”, AFDI (1977) p. 307Google Scholar and Crawford, and Dayanidhi, , “East Timor: A Study in Decolonization”, 33 India Quarterly (1977) p. 419.Google Scholar
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171. S/12133.
172. See e.g., Assembly Resolutions 31/53, 32/34, 35/27 and 36/50.
173. See e.g., UN Chronicle, January 1982, p. 19.
174. See e.g., GAOR 9th session, 1st Committee, 726th meeting, paras. 10–11 and 26 and A/4944. See also Rigo Sureda, op.cit., pp. 143–51 and 228–33.
175. Yearbook of the United Nations (1962) pp. 124–7.Google Scholar
176. A/7723 and Yearbook of the United Nations (1969) pp. 175–7.Google Scholar
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178. Not all such acts would operate within the context of title creation; see the Frontier Lands case, ICJ Reports, 1959, pp. 209, 229 and the Western Sahara case, ICJ Reports, 1975, p. 12.
179. See the Eastern Greenland case, PCIJ Series A/B no. 53, pp. 51–2. See also, Jennings, op.cit., pp. 38–45; Schwarzenberger, op.cit., pp. 295–6 and Blum, op.cit., pp. 49–52.
180. Blum states that recognition “is one of the main means of expressing consent in international relations”, op.cit., p. 49. Schwarzenberger refers to its “wide actual, and a still greater potential, acope”, “Fundamental Principles of International Law”, 87 Hague Recueil (1955 II) pp. 195, 228.Google Scholar
181. See Akehurst, op.cit., p. 147, but cf., Brownlie, op.cit., p. 173.
182. See, in particular, General Assembly Resolutions 2145 (XXI), 2248 (XXII), 2372 (XXII), 2403 (XXIII), 3031 (XXVII) and 3111 (XXVIII); Security Council resolutions /64 (1969), 269 (1969), 276 (1970), 301 (1971), 323 (1971) and 385 (1976) and the Namibia case, ICJ Reports 1971, p. 16. See generally Dugard, , The South-West Africa/Namibia Dispute (1973)Google Scholar and Slonim, , South-West Africa and the UN: An International Mandate in Dispute (1973).Google Scholar
183. For example, the Bantustans situation, see n. 135.
184. See Jennings, op.cit., p. 85 and Brownlie, op.cit., p. 164. Brownlie notes that the “strength of institutionalised and general recognition is obvious”, Ibid.
185. In addition to the Bantustans situation, one may note the case of Rhodesia, see General Assembly Resolutions 2024 (XX) and 2151 (XXI) and Security Council Resolutions 216 (1965) and 217 (1965). See also, e.g., Fawcett, , “Security Council Resolutions on Rhodesia”, 41 BYIL (1965–1966), p. 103Google Scholar, and Higgings, , “International Law, Rhodesia and the United Nations”, The World Today (1967) p. 94Google Scholar. Note that non-recognition does not invalidate a valid title. It witholds validation from a title which is invalid for some other reason.
186. See Oppenheim, op.cit., p. 551 and Corbett, , Law and Society in the Relations of States (1951) pp. 104–5Google Scholar. The situation with regard to trusteeship territories where there are conflicting options as to the end result of an act of self-determination is rather different. See as to the Cameroons plebiscite, 171556 and A/4684/Add.1 and as to the Togoland plebiscite, T/1270 and T/1301.
187. There may, of course, exist constitutional provisions which call for the consent of the inhabitants in such a cession, see e.g., Article 27 of the 1946 French Constitution which provided that “no cession, no exchange and no additions of territory shall be valid without the consent of the populations concerned”, Peaslee, , Constitutions of Nations, 2nd ed. (1956) vol. II, pp. 6, 10.Google Scholar
188. See articles 17–26 of the 1980 Draft Convention on the Law of the Sea.
189. Ibid., articles 55–56, 60, 77–8 and 80.
190. Ibid., article 76. See also the North Sea Continental Shelf cases, ICJ Reports, 1969, p. 3; the Anglo-French Continental Shelf case, Cmnd. 7438 (1978) and the Tunisian-Libyan Continental Shelf case, ICJ Reports, 1982.
191. Articles 60 and 80 of the 1980 Draft Convention. This Draft with some changes, was adopted on April 30 1982, by 130 votes to 4 with 17 abstentions.
192. ILC Yearbook, 1964 Vol. II, pp. 12–15. See also McNair, , Law of Treaties (1961) pp. 116–19Google Scholar, and Veizijl, , International Law in Historical Perspective, vol. VI (1973) pp. 284–5Google Scholar. When it is desired that the particular treaty in question should also cover territories for which the UK is internationally responsible this will usually appear clearly. For example, the 1972 UK-USA Extradition Treaty was extended to cover 21 territories for which the former was internationally responsible by an Exchange of Notes in 1976, see Cmnd. 6723. Note also, that Article 63 of the European Convention on Human Rights, 1950, provides that the Convention may be extended to territories for which the Contracting Parties are internationally responsible by notification to the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe. On 19 August 1981, the UK renewed the acceptance of Articles 25 and 46 of the convention on behalf of Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bailiwick of Guernsey and St. Helena under this provision, see, Minutes of the 150th session of the European Commission of Human Rights, November 1981, p. 9. As for practice relating to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, see MacNair, op.cit., p. 118, note 2 and Waldock's Commentary on Article 58 of the ILC Draft on the Law of Treaties, ILC Yearbook, 1964, vol. II, p. 13. See also, generally, Sinclair, , The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1973) pp. 56–62.Google Scholar
193. ILC Yearbook, 1964, vol. I, p. 49. See also Yasseen, Ibid., p. 50.
194. For example, El-Erian, Ibid., p. 46, and Payedes, Ibid., p. 233. It is interesting to note here that the International Labour Organisation adopted in 1964 an amendment to its constitution stating that “members ratifying conventions shall accept their provisions so far as practicable in respect of all territories for whose international relations they are responsible”, Ibid., p. 233 and Johnston, , The International Labour Organisation, (1970) Chapter 20Google Scholar. See also, the comments of Algeria, ILC Yearbook, 1966 vol. II, p. 65.
195. ILC Yearbook, 1964, vol. I, p. 233 and Ibid. 1966, vol. I, p. 46. In its commentary to the article in question, the Commission noted that the phrase “the entire territory of each party” was a comprehensive term designed to embrace all the land and appurtenant territorial waters and air space which constitute the territory of the state, UN Conference on the Law of Treaties, Official Records, First Session, p. 33.
196. There were arguments over the extra-territorial application of treaties but reference to this particular issue in the draft article was not accepted by the Commission. See ILC Yearbook, 1966, vol. I, pp. 46–8 and Ibid. vol. II pp. 64–6.
197. See UN Conference on the Law of Treaties, Official Records, First Session, 30th Meeting, paras. 49–51 and 61.
198. Although our purpose here has been to discuss the nature and concept of territory as a phenomenon of international law, it should also be noted in passing that within the sphere of municipal law, municipal courts may in the course of treaty or statute interpretation analyse the notion of territory in a slightly different fashion. In particular, territory may for these specific purposes often be assimilated to the concept of jurisdiction. For example, the House of Lords in Schtraks v. Government of Israel had to determine whether “territory” within the context of an Israel-UK extradition arrangement also included Jerusalem, recognised de facto and not de jure by the UK as part of the State of Israel. It was held that for these purposes, “territory” included areas over which de facto authority was being exercised. [1962] 3 All ER 529 especially at pp. 532 (Lord Reid), 537 (Viscount Radcliffe), 541 (Lord Evershed) and 548 (Lord Hodson). See also R v. Governor of Brixton Prison, ex pane Minervini [1959] 1 QB 155.
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