The Island of Palmas Case involved a territorial dispute between the US and Netherlands over sovereignty of the Island of Palmas. [1] The island was located between the Philippines and Dutch East Indies and was claimed by both based on historical control. [2] While the US argued it gained sovereignty as successor to Spain's discovery, the Netherlands displayed continuous peaceful authority since at least 1677. [3] The arbitrator determined that continuous peaceful display of authority takes precedence over an initial claim not followed by actual control, and awarded sovereignty of the island to the Netherlands.
The Island of Palmas Case involved a territorial dispute between the US and Netherlands over sovereignty of the Island of Palmas. [1] The island was located between the Philippines and Dutch East Indies and was claimed by both based on historical control. [2] While the US argued it gained sovereignty as successor to Spain's discovery, the Netherlands displayed continuous peaceful authority since at least 1677. [3] The arbitrator determined that continuous peaceful display of authority takes precedence over an initial claim not followed by actual control, and awarded sovereignty of the island to the Netherlands.
The Island of Palmas Case involved a territorial dispute between the US and Netherlands over sovereignty of the Island of Palmas. [1] The island was located between the Philippines and Dutch East Indies and was claimed by both based on historical control. [2] While the US argued it gained sovereignty as successor to Spain's discovery, the Netherlands displayed continuous peaceful authority since at least 1677. [3] The arbitrator determined that continuous peaceful display of authority takes precedence over an initial claim not followed by actual control, and awarded sovereignty of the island to the Netherlands.
The Island of Palmas Case involved a territorial dispute between the US and Netherlands over sovereignty of the Island of Palmas. [1] The island was located between the Philippines and Dutch East Indies and was claimed by both based on historical control. [2] While the US argued it gained sovereignty as successor to Spain's discovery, the Netherlands displayed continuous peaceful authority since at least 1677. [3] The arbitrator determined that continuous peaceful display of authority takes precedence over an initial claim not followed by actual control, and awarded sovereignty of the island to the Netherlands.
Facts The Island of Palmas is about halfway between the Philippines (formerly under Spanish control) and the Nanusa Island group (formerly of the Dutch East Indies class). In the Treaty of Paris (1898), the island lied within the boundaries of the Philippines ceded by Spain to the US.
Arguments US: As the successor of Spain, who was the first to discover the island, the US has title to sovereignty.
Netherlands: Discovery by Spain is not yet proved, nor is any other form of acquisition. Even if Spain had such a title, the title has been lost because the Netherlands have possessed and exercised sovereignty since at least 1677, when the East India Company entered conventions with the two princes of the main island in the chain. Such sovereignty has been displayed over the last two centuries.
Procedural History The two states agreed to appoint the Swiss Jurist, Max Huber, to arbitrate the case.
Issues When two States claim title to sovereignty over, does the state with earliest claim win sovereignty?
Holdings & Court Order No, it is not sufficient to establish that a title was validly acquired at a specific moment, but it must be shown that sovereignty was held continuously and existed at the moment for which is critical to the decision of the dispute.
Reasoning In current international law, titles of acquisition are based on an act of effective apprehension (such as occupation or conquest) or cession. Doctrine recognizes that the continuous and peaceful display of sovereignty is as good as title. This display must be open and public.
The Spanish, and by sucession, American, claim is based on being the first to discover the island. This is based on reports that an island was seen (which based on geographical data, is probably the one in the class), although there is no mention of landing on or contacting the natives. Until recently, there were no allegations of taking possession or administration of the island by Spain. The view most favorable to Americans would be that the mere fact of seeing land without any subsequent act grants sovereignty and not merely an incomplete/partial title that needs to be completed within a reasonable time. However, it is incompatible with the current positivist view of international law that are neither under effective sovereignty of a State nor have a master, but are still reserved for the exclusive influence of a State. Thus discovery alone cannot suffice to prove sovereignty. Another view is that discovery doesnt create an absolute title, but an incomplete/partial title that must be completed through subsequent action within a reasonable time. Even if the title was incomplete/partial in 1898, and must be considered ceded by the Treaty of Paris, such title would not overcome continuous and peaceful display of authority by another state.
The argues Netherlands that through the Dutch East India Company it established sovereignty since at least 1677, when the Company entered conventions with the two Cheiftans of the main island of the chain. These conventions contained provisions to bar admittance of another States nationals and the practice nonprotestant religion. As such, if Spain had in reality displayed sovereignty of the island, a collision between the two Stats would have occurred. However, for the Netherlands to claim sovereignty since this time, the acts of the Company need to have been entirely assimilated to the acts of the Netherland. Although direct relations between the island and the Netherlands were loose and sovereignty was exercised at every moment on all points of the territory, there is evidence of taxation (first with mat and rice, and later with money) and gaps in the exercise of sovereignty over territories are to be expected when it is in a remote region. This is sufficient to establish a title by the continuous and peaceful sovereignty of the Netherlands for over two centuries. In international law, such a title prevails over a title acquired but not followed by an actual display of authority. Therefore, the Island of Plamas is a part of Netherlands territory.
