ABSTRACT
The term ‘state succession’ is used to describe that branch of inter national law which deals with the legal consequences of a change of sovereignty over territory.1 When one state acquires territory from another, which of the rights and obligations of the ‘predecessor state’ pass to the ‘successor state’? What happens to existing bilateral and multi lateral treaties, to membership of international organizations, to inter national claims, to the nationality of the affected persons, to public and private property, to contractual rights, to national archives and to the national debt? This problem is complicated because it can arise in several different forms. A state may lose part of its territory, or it may lose all of it. Similarly, the loss of territory may result in the enlargement of one or more existing states, or it may result in the creation of one or more new states. These distinctions are vital, because different rules of law apply to different types of situation; for instance, the legal effects of the creation of a new state are different from the legal effects of the enlargement of an existing state.
