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Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law [MPEPIL]

Territory, Abandonment

Marcelo G Kohen

Content type:
Encyclopedia entries
Product:
Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law [MPIL]

Module:
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law [MPEPIL]
Article last updated:
November 2008

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 31 May 2023

Subject(s):
Sovereignty — Territory, acquisition and transfer — Territory, title — States, formation, continuity, extinction

Published under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law under the direction of Professor Anne Peters (2021–) and Professor Rüdiger Wolfrum (2004–2020). 

1 In general, abandonment is understood as a way of relinquishing territorial sovereignty in situations where the holder no longer wishes to maintain sovereignty. It is also known by the Latin term derelictio. Traditionally, this notion was understood as the mode of losing territory that corresponded to territorial occupation as a mode of territorial acquisition. The consequence of abandonment is either that the territory becomes res nullius once again, or that it falls under another State’s sovereignty. However, the notion of abandonment covers more than just the...
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