nating the relation that exists between a strong and a weak State through a treaty by which the weak State surrenders itself into the protection of the strong and transfers to the latter the management of its more important international relations.1 Neither can they be compared with the protectorate of members of the Family of Nations exercised over such non-Christian States as are outside that family,2 because the respective chiefs of natives are not the heads of States, but heads of tribal communities only. Such agreements, although they are named "Protectorates," are nothing else than steps taken to exclude other Powers from occupying the respective territories. They give, like discovery, an inchoate title, and are preparations and precursors of future occupations. influence. § 227. The uncertainty of the extent of an occupa- Spheres of tion and the tendency of every colonising State to extend its occupation constantly and gradually into the interior, the "Hinterland," of an occupied territory, has led several States which have colonies in Africa to secure for themselves " spheres of influence" by international treaties with other interested Powers. Spheres of influence are therefore the names of such territories as are exclusively reserved for future occupation on the part of a Power which has effectively occupied adjoining territories. In this way disputes are avoided for the future, and the interested Powers can gradually extend their sovereignty over vast territories without coming into conflict with other Powers. Thus, to give some examples, Great Britain has concluded treaties regarding spheres of influence with Portugal 3 1 See above, §§ 92 and 93. * See above, § 94. 3 See Martens, N.R.G., 2nd ser. XVIII. p. 558. Consequences tion. in 1890, with Italy in 1891, with Germany 2 in 1886 and 1890, and with France 3 in 1898.4 § 228. As soon as a territory is occupied by a of Occupa member of the Family of Nations, it comes within the sphere of the Law of Nations, because it constitutes a portion of the territory of a subject of International Law. No other Power can acquire it hereafter through occupation, unless the present possessor has either intentionally withdrawn from it or has been successfully driven away by the natives without making efforts, or without capacity, to re-occupy it.5 On the other hand, the Power which now exercises sovereignty over the occupied territory is hereafter responsible for all events of international importance on the territory. Such Power has in especial to keep up a certain order among the native tribes to restrain them from acts of violence against neighbouring territories, and has eventually to punish them for such acts. A question of some importance is how far occupation affects private property of the inhabitants of the occupied territory. As according to the modern conception of State territory the latter is not identical with private property of the State, occupation brings a territory under the sovereignty only of the occupying State, and therefore in no wise touches or affects existing private property of the inhabitants. In the age of the discoveries, occupation was indeed considered to include a title to property over the 1 See Martens, N.R.G., 2nd ser. XVIII. p. 175. 2 See Martens, N.R.G., 2nd ser. XII. p. 298, and XVI. p. 895. 3 See Martens, N.R.G., 2nd ser. XXIX. p. 116. 4 Protectorates and Spheres of Influence are exhaustively treated in Hall, Foreign Powers and whole occupied land, but nowadays this can no longer be maintained. If, according to the Municipal Law of a State, occupation does give such title to property, there is a conflict between International and Municipal Law which ought not to be upheld.1 XIV Grotius, II. c. 8, §§ 8–16—Hall, § 37-Lawrence, § 100-Phillimore, I. §§ 240-241-Twiss, I. §§ 131 and 154-Bluntschli, §§ 294-295Hartmann, § 61-Heffter, § 69-Holtzendorff in Holtzendorff, II. pp. 266-268-Gareis, § 20-Liszt, § 10-Ullmann, § 81-Bonfils, No. 533-Despagnet, No. 389-Pradier-Fodéré, II. Nos. 803-816Rivier, I. pp. 179–180-Calvo, I. § 266-Fiore, II. No. 852-Martens, I. § 90-Heimburger, "Der Erwerb der Gebietshoheit" (1888), p. 107. tion of § 229. Accretion is the name for the increase of Concepland through new formations. Such new formations Accretion. may be a modification only of the existing State territory, as, for instance, where an island rises within such river or a part of it as is totally within the territory of one and the same State; and in such case there is no increase of territory to correspond with the increase of land. On the other hand, many new formations occur which really do enlarge the territory of the State to which they accrue, as, for instance, where an island rises within the maritime belt. And it is a customary rule of the Law of Nations that enlargement of territory, if any, created 1 See above, §§ 20-25. 2 Those writers who, as Ull. mann, § 81, consider accretion a modification only of the existing territory, overlook this second kind of new formations. Since through the rise of an island within the Different kinds of Accretion. Artificial Formations. Alluvions. through new formations, takes place ipso facto by the accretion, without the State concerned taking any special step for the purpose of extending its sovereignty. Accretion must therefore be considered as a mode of acquiring territory. § 230. New formations through accretion may be artificial or natural. They are artificial if they are the outcome of human work. They are natural if they are produced through the operation of nature. And within the circle of natural formations different kinds must again be distinguished-namely, alluvions, deltas, new-born islands, and abandoned river beds. § 231. Artificial formations are embankments, breakwaters, dykes, and the like, built along the river or the coast line of the sea. As such artificial new formations along the bank of a boundary river may more or less push the volume of water so far as to encroach upon the other bank of the river, and as no State is allowed to alter the natural condition of its own territory to the disadvantage of the natural conditions of a neighbouring State territory, a State cannot build embankments, and the like, of such kind without a previous agreement with the neighbouring State. But every riparian State of the sea may construct such artificial formations as far into the sea beyond the low-water mark as it likes and thereby gain considerably in land and also in territory, since the extent of the at least three miles wide maritime belt is now to be measured from the extended shore. $232. Alluvion is the name for an accession of land washed up on the sea-shore or on a river-bank by the waters. Such accession is as a rule produced by a slow and gradual process, but sometimes also 1 See above, § 127. through a sudden act of violence, the stream detaching a portion of the soil from one bank of a river, carrying it over to the other bank, and embedding it there so as to be immovable (avulsio). Through alluvions the land and also the territory of a State may be considerably enlarged. For, if the alluvion takes place on the shore, the extent of the territorial maritimė belt is now to be measured from the extended shore. And, if the alluvion takes place on the one bank of a boundary river, and the course of the river is thereby naturally so altered that the waters in consequence cover a part of the other bank, the boundary line, which runs through the middle or through the mid-channel,' may thereby be extended into former territory of the other riparian State. . $233. Similar to alluvions are Deltas. Delta is Deltas. the name for a tract of land at the mouth of a river shaped like the Greek letter A, which land owes its existence to a gradual deposit by the river of sand, stones, and earth on one particular place at its mouth. As the Deltas are continually increasing, the accession of land they produce may be very considerable, and such accession is, according to the Law of Nations, considered an accretion to the land of the State to whose territory the mouth of the respective river belongs, although the Delta may be formed outside the territorial maritime belt. It is evident that in the latter case an increase of territory is the result, since the at least three miles wide maritime belt is now to be measured from the shore of the Delta. Islands. § 234. The same and other natural processes which New-born create alluvions on the shore and banks, and Deltas at the mouths of rivers, lead to the birth of new islands. If they rise on the High Seas outside the 1 See above, § 199, No. 1. |