Jump to Content Jump to Main Navigation
Oxford Law Citator
Sign up for alerts
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law [MPEPIL]

Debellatio

Michael N Schmitt

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

Module:
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law [MPEPIL]
Article last updated:
October 2009

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 09 December 2024

Subject(s):
Armed conflict, international — Belligerence — Occupation — Conduct of hostilities — Sovereignty — Territory, acquisition and transfer

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 The classical notion of debellatio is of ancient lineage in international law. It provided that, upon the complete and total defeat of an adversary, the spoils of war included the territory and sovereignty of the vanquished belligerent. Further, a factual state of debellatio terminated the war. Debellatio represented a logical legal construct during an historical period when States were free to wage war for the purpose of territorial gain. However, in contemporary international law, the continued existence of debellatio as a legal concept has been questioned, at...
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content. Please subscribe, or log in via the Sign in panel on the left of this screen to access all subscribed content.