Acquisition of State Territory

Public International LAW
(LL.B. IVth semester)
Topic - Acquisition of State Territory
(Set -iv)
Dr. Shiv Shankar Singh

Assistant Professor
Faculty of Law, Patna Law College, Patna University,
Patna
Email id. - shivshankarpu@gmail.com

Mo. No. - 8986031942
e-Content for LL.B. (IVth Semester) Students of Patna Law College,

Patna University, Patna
Acquisition of State Territory
a. Sovereign State Territory
Sovereignty is the complete territorial jurisdiction of a country over a

territory, as recognized by other countries. In the modern age, the state not only
includes the territory of land but that of adjacent waters as well. There are several
other types of sovereignty, however, emergent in the present day. These are called
Condominiums, in which case either two countries jointly control territory, or the
territory is leased to another country, or territory is pledged to another country as
collateral against a loan.
The researcher then goes into the importance of the state boundaries and that
secession of states from the parent state should not in any way affect the interstate
boundaries that the seceded state has with other states. Globalization has changed
the nature of populations, leaving traces of all countries in the populations of other
countries. The researcher opines that international law needs to be redeveloped to
accommodate such changing trends.
b. Introduction of Sovereignty
The sovereignty of a state is confined to a defined piece of territory, which is

subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and is protected by international
law from violation by other states. It is inherent in statehood that there should be a
core territory that is subject to the effective control of the authorities of the state.
State territory is that defined portion of the globe which is subject to the
sovereignty of a state.
Here the word globe is used as state territory includes not only land but also the
national or internal waters, archipelagic waters, and airspace that falls under the
jurisdiction of that particular state. Within the state territory, the state exercises
exclusive and supreme authority.
According to the maxim quidquid est in territorio est etiam de territorio, all
individuals and all property within the territory of a state are under its dominion
and sway, and foreign individuals and property fall at once under the territorial
authority of a state when they cross its frontiers.
Article 2.4 of the United Nations Charter requires members to ‘refrain in their
international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity
or political independence of any State’. Hence, we can see how the need for
territory is of prime importance for a State to exist. A wandering tribe may have a
government but it cannot count as a state unless it has a territory that it has
exclusive rights over.
The above discussion gives the impression that there could be only one full
sovereign state and it is not possible for two or more sovereign states to exist on
the same territory. However, this is not completely true and some exceptions have
been created to this rule over the years. We shall discuss a few examples of such
divided sovereignty.
Condominium
It is a political territory in or over which two or more sovereign powers
formally agree to share equally dominium (in the sense of sovereignty) and
exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it up into ‘national’ zones. Sudan, for
example, was under the condominium of Great Britain and Egypt from 1898 to
1955.
The Anglo – Egyptian agreement on Sudan was signed on 19th January

1899, by Lord Cromer, the British counsel-general in Egypt, and Boutros Ghali
Pasha, the Egyptian minister of foreign affairs. Since Egypt itself was occupied by
the British, the agreement legalized British control of Sudan and framed it as an
Anglo-Egyptian rule and administration. This condominium ended when the
Sudanese Parliament voted a Declaration establishing Sudan as a fully sovereign
republic in 1955 which was formally agreed to by Egypt and UK on
31st December.
In some cases, one state exercises sovereignty which is, in law, vested
elsewhere: as where territory is administered by a foreign power, with the consent
of the owner state. An example of this is when the Turkish island of Cyprus was
under British administration from 1878 to 1914. Basically, in these instances there
is a cession of territories for all practical purposes however under the law the
territory still belongs to the former owner-state.
Another exception is when the territory is leased or pledged by the owner-

state to another foreign power. A state may lease part of its territory to another
state on certain terms and conditions of the lease or pledge it to another foreign
power for a loan. The most famous example of this is “Chinese leases”. Hong
Kong was leased to Great Britain by China for a period of about 99 years.
The fourth case is when the use, occupation, and control of territory are
granted by the owner-state to another state perpetually, to the exclusion of exercise
of any sovereign rights over that territory by the grantor. Literally speaking even
federal states can be brought under this exception. In federal states different
territories of single member states are collectively also the territory of the federal
state and sovereignty is divided between a federal state and its member states.
Lastly, there is the case of mandated and trusteeship territory. Here also the trustee
state exercises most of the attributes of sovereignty over states that are not its own.
Now we shall briefly discuss the different parts of State Territory. If a state
has a seacoast, certain waters which are within or adjacent to its land boundaries
also become state territory. These include internal or national waters and territorial
sea. National waters consist of lakes, canals, rivers, and their mouths etc-. Internal
waters are legally equivalent to a state’s land and are entirely subject to its
territorial sovereignty.
Territorial sea, on the other hand, is the continuous belt of sea waters,
adjacent to the coast of a state and thus includes waters of the bays, gulfs, and
straits. The seabed and subsoil of the territorial sea along with the airspace above it
also fall within the sovereignty of the coastal state. There are maritime areas where
coastal states enjoy limited rights of jurisdiction.
fishing zones, for example, these states enjoy only certain prior rights to
jurisdiction and control, however, they have exclusive and sovereign rights in an
‘exclusive economic zone’. Another interesting aspect of state territory is outer
space. The first principle was that a state’s sovereignty extends over its
airspace usque ad coelum. This was until 1957 when Sputnik was launched. Soon a
new principle of law emerged. It was generally accepted that outer space and
celestial bodies are not subject to appropriation by states and are to be used for
peaceful purposes.
Boundaries of state territory are the imaginary lines on the surface of the
earth which separate the territory of one state from another, or from inappropriate
property or from the open sea. Practically speaking the usual practice with regard
to land boundaries is, to describe the boundary line i.e. to ‘delimit’ it; and then to
appoint boundary commissions to apply the delimitation to the ground and if
necessary mark it with posts or the like, as in to ‘demarcate’ it.
Article 11 of the Convention on Succession of States says that a succession

of states doesn’t affect a boundary established by a treaty, or obligations and rights
established by a treaty and relating to the regime of a boundary. The law clearly
states that a boundary established by a treaty is not to be called into question
merely by the fact of succession of states or the change in circumstances since the
treaty was made, however, it is not correct to say that boundaries established by
treaty cannot be questioned at all.
State boundary forms a very important part of a nation and disputes relating
to boundaries are very common. The correct interpretation of the instruments by
which that boundary was established is looked into to decide the location of a land
boundary under dispute. In other cases, arbitral awards or judicial decisions may be
used to decide in cases, especially where the meaning of a boundary treaty is being
questioned. It is to be kept in mind that one of the primary objects of the tribunals
while solving such disputes of boundary settlements is ‘to achieve stability and
finality’.
Here it is necessary to examine the doctrine of uti possidetis juris, which is a
principle of international law which provides that newly formed sovereign
states should have the same borders that their preceding dependent area had before
their independence. It is often applied to prevent foreign intervention by
eliminating any contested terra nullius, or no man’s land, that foreign powers could
claim.
Terra nullius is a Latin expression used in international law to describe

territory which has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state, or over
which any prior sovereign has expressly or implicitly relinquished sovereignty.
This doctrine of uti possedetis juris was adopted by the Spanish-American states
after they had gained independence. It intended to solve or avoid any sort of
boundary problems between countries. However, in practice owing to the
uncertainty of many Spanish colonial administrative boundaries at that time there
were no clear and certain answers to the boundary disputes.
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Public International LAW

(LL.B. IVth semester)

Topic - Acquisition of State Territory

Dr. Shiv Shankar Singh

Email id. - shivshankarpu@gmail.com

e-Content for LL.B. (IVth Semester) Students of Patna Law College,

a. Sovereign State Territory

Sovereignty is the complete territorial jurisdiction of a country over a

The sovereignty of a state is confined to a defined piece of territory, which is

The Anglo – Egyptian agreement on Sudan was signed on 19th January

Another exception is when the territory is leased or pledged by the owner-

Article 11 of the Convention on Succession of States says that a succession

Terra nullius is a Latin expression used in international law to describe

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