Volume I Part 37 (1/2)

387--Pradier-Fodere, II. Nos. 803-816--Rivier, I. pp.

179-180--Nys, II. pp. 3-7--Calvo, I. -- 266--Fiore, II. No. 852, and Code, Nos. 1068-1070--Martens, I. -- 90--Heimburger, ”Der Erwerb der Gebietshoheit” (1888), p. 107.

[Sidenote: Conception of Accretion.]

-- 229. Accretion is the name for the increase of land through new formations. Such new formations 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 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.

[Sidenote: Different kinds of Accretion.]

-- 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 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.

[Sidenote: Artificial Formations.]

-- 231. Artificial formations are embankments, breakwaters, d.y.k.es, 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[451] 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 State 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 sh.o.r.e.

[Footnote 451: See above, -- 127.]

[Sidenote: Alluvions.]

-- 232. Alluvion is the name for an accession of land washed up on the sea-sh.o.r.e or on a river-bank by the waters. Such accession is as a rule produced by a slow and gradual process, but sometimes also 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 sh.o.r.e, the extent of the territorial maritime belt is now to be measured from the extended sh.o.r.e. 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,[452] may thereby be extended into former territory of the other riparian State.

[Footnote 452: See above, -- 199, No. 1.]

[Sidenote: Deltas.]

-- 233. Similar to alluvions are Deltas. Delta is the name for a tract of land at the mouth of a river shaped like the Greek letter ?, 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 sh.o.r.e of the Delta.

[Sidenote: New-born Islands.]

-- 234. The same and other natural processes which create alluvions on the sh.o.r.e 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 territorial maritime belt, they are no State's land, and may be acquired through occupation on the part of any State. But if they rise in rivers, lakes, and within the maritime belt, they are, according to the Law of Nations, considered accretions to the neighbouring land. It is for this reason that such new islands in boundary rivers as rise within the boundary line of one of the riparian States accrue to the land of such State, and that, on the other hand, such islands as rise upon the boundary line are divided into parts by it, the respective parts accruing to the land of the riparian States concerned. If an island rises within the territorial maritime belt, it accrues to the land of the littoral State, and the extent of the maritime belt is now to be measured from the sh.o.r.e of the new-born island.

An ill.u.s.trative example is the case[453] of the _Anna_. In 1805, during war between Great Britain and Spain, the British privateer _Minerva_ captured the Spanish vessel _Anna_ near the mouth of the River Mississippi. When brought before the British Prize Court, the United States claimed the captured vessel on the ground that she was captured within the American territorial maritime belt. Lord Stowell gave judgment in favour of this claim, because, although it appeared that the capture did actually take place more than three miles off the coast of the continent, the place of capture was within three miles of some small mud-islands composed of earth and trees drifted down into the sea.

[Footnote 453: See 5 C. Rob. 373.]

[Sidenote: Abandoned Riverbeds.]

-- 235. It happens sometimes that a river abandons its bed entirely or dries up altogether. If such river was a boundary river, the abandoned bed is now the natural boundary. But often the old boundary line cannot be ascertained, and in such cases the boundary line is considered to run through the middle of the abandoned bed, and the portions _ipso facto_ accrue to the land of the riparian States, although the territory of one of these States may become thereby enlarged, and that of the other diminished.

XV

SUBJUGATION

Vattel, III. ---- 199-203--Hall, ---- 204-205--Lawrence, -- 77--Halleck, II. pp. 467-498--Taylor, -- 220--Walker, -- 11--Wheaton, -- 165--Moore, I. -- 87--Bluntschli, ---- 287-289, 701-702--Heffter, -- 178--Liszt, -- 10--Ullmann, ---- 92 and 97--Bonfils, No. 535--Despagnet, Nos. 387-390--Rivier, I. pp.

181-182, II. 436-441--Nys, II. pp. 40-46--Calvo, V. ---- 3117, 3118--Fiore, II. No. 863, III. No. 1693, and Code, Nos.

1078-1081--Martens, I. -- 91--Holtzendorff, ”Eroberung und Eroberungsrecht” (1871)--Heimburger, ”Der Erwerb der Gebietshoheit” (1888), pp. 121-132--Westlake in _The Law Quarterly Review_, XVII. (1901), p. 392.

[Sidenote: Conception of Conquest and of Subjugation.]