ABSTRACT
Modes of acquisition of territory The traditional view is that there are several distinct modes by which sovereignty can be acquired over territory. The classification of these modes was originally borrowed from the Roman law rules on the acquisi tion of property, which is not surprising, since sovereignty over territory bears some resemblance to ownership of property; and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when modern international law began to develop, the then current theories of absolute monarchy tended to regard a state’s territory as the private estate of the monarch. But there are several ways in which this use of private law concepts produces a distorted view of mod ern international law. In particular, it presupposes that transfers of terri tory take place between already existing states, just as transfers of property take place between already existing individuals. In recent years, however, the most frequent form of transfer of territory (more precisely: the transfer of sovereignty over territory) has occurred when a colony has become independent;6 since territory is an essential ingredient of statehood,7 the birth of the state and the transfer of territory are inseparable - a state is its territory. In the pages which follow, an attempt will be made to fit the emergence of new states into the traditional list of modes of acquisition of territory; but it must be confessed that the emergence of new states does not fit very well into that list.
