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SPHERES OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 649 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SPHERES OF See also:INFLUENCE out as to acquisition of private See also:property by occupation were applied to the See also:appropriation by states or their subjects of vacant lands (res nullius), including lands in the See also:possession Rights of of barbarous tribes. " Quod enim nullius est, id Discoverer ratione naturali occupanti conceditur (Institutes, and ii. 1-12). The See also:Roman See also:law required the animus occapatfon. domini—there must be seizure for and on behalf of the owner. There must be " appfehensio. Apiscimur possessionem corpore et animo, neque per se animo See also:aut per se corpore " (Dig. xli. 2-3). Professing to See also:act on these doctrines, and relying also on an assumed right on the See also:part of See also:Christian nations to subdue obdurate non-Christian communities, the navigators and explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries made exorbitant claims. Having occupied certain points on the See also:coast-See also:line, they claimed to have occupied a whole See also:island or See also:continent (De See also:Martens i. 462). They made vast claims under Papal bulls; for example, under the See also:bull of See also:Nicholas V. of 1454, and the bull of See also:Alexander VI. of 1494, which assigned to the Portuguese the See also:empire of See also:Guinea just discovered. It was; one of See also:Grotius's services to diffuse sounder ideas, and to point out that Roman law gave no support, to these pretensions: " Invenire non illud est oculis usurpare, sed apprehendere " (See also:Mare liberum, c.

2). He insisted that " occupatiikautem publica eodem modo See also:

fit quo privata territoria See also:suet ex 0ccupationibus populorum ut privata dominia ex occupationibus singulorum." In See also:recent times the old See also:doctrine that See also:discovery without occupation confers an See also:independent right to the See also:land so discovered of any extent is discredited. The tendency is to insist on actual occupation as a See also:condition of legitimate possession or See also:sovereignty (see See also:correspondence between See also:Great See also:Britain and See also:Portugal, See also:State Papers 79, p. 1062), and to treat the discoverer's right as merely inchoate. Thus, in opening the See also:conference at See also:Berlin in 1884, See also:Prince See also:Bismarck said: " Pour qu'une occupation soit consideree comme effective, it est, de plus, a desirer que 1'acquereur manifeste, clans delai raisonnable, See also:par See also:des institutions positives, la volonte et le pouvoir d'y exercer ses droits et de remplir See also:les devoirs qui en resultent." This doctrine is recognized in articles 34 and 35 of the See also:General Act of Berlin, the former of which states that " any See also:Power which henceforth takes possession of a See also:tract of land on the coast of the See also:African continent outside its possessions, or which being hitherto without such possessions shall acquire them, as well as the Power which assumes a See also:protectorate, shall accompany the respective act with a notification thereof, addressed to the other Signatory See also:Powers of the See also:present act, in See also:order to enable them, if need be, to make See also:good any claim of their own." To a similar effect wrote See also:Lord See also:Salisbury in 1887 with reference to the claims of Portugal in See also:East See also:Africa. " Great Britain considers that it has been admitted in principle by all the parties to the act of Berlin that a claim of sovereignty in Africa can only be maintained by real occupation of the territory claimed; and that the doctrine has been practically applied in the recent See also:Zambezi delimitation (State Papers 79, p. 1063). No See also:paper See also:annexation of territory can pretend to validity as a See also:bar to the enterprise of other nations." At its session at See also:Lausanne, in 1889, the Institut de See also:Droit See also:International adopted the following principles: See also:Article 1.—L'occupation d'un territoire a titre de souverainete ne pourra 'are reconnue comme effective. que si elle reunit les conditions suivantes: 1° La prise de possession d'un territoire enferme dans certaines limites, faite au nom du gouvernement. 2° La notification oficielle de la prise de possession. La prise de possession s'accomplit par l'etablissement d'un, pouvoir See also:local responsable, pourvu de moyens suffisants pour maintenir l'ordre et pour assurer 1'exercice regulier de son autorite daps les limites du territoire occupe. ' See also:Ces moyens pourront etre empruntes a des institutions existantes daps le pays occupe. La notification de is prise de possession de fait, soft pour la publication dans la forme qui, dans chaque etat, est en usage pour fa notification des actes officiels, ' soit par la voie diploniatique.

See also:

Elie contiendra la determination approximative des limites du territoire occupe " (Annuaire x. 201). This development of international law naturally led to arrangements as to " spheres of influence." Nations which had not yet settled or occupied, or established protectorates, in regions contiguous to their existing possessions, were desirous to retain a hold over the former, and proceeded to enter into See also:treaties defining the spheres of influence. The following are some of the See also:chief treaties by which such ' spheres are defined: Great Britain and Portugal as to Africa, See also:August 20, 1890, See also:November 14, 1890 and See also:June i 1, 1891. Great Britain and See also:France as to upper See also:Niger, See also:January 20, 1891; November 15, 1893, as to See also:Lake See also:Chad. Great Britain and France as to See also:Siam, January 15, 1896. The two governments engage to one another " that neither of them will, without the consent of the other in any See also:case or under any pretext, advance their armed forces into the regions, &c." They also engage not to acquire within this region any See also:special See also:privilege or See also:advantage which shall not be enjoyed in See also:common, or equally open to Great Britain and France or their nationals and dependants. Great Britain and See also:Italy as to Africa, See also:April 15, 1891; May 5, 1894, as to region of the Gulf of See also:Aden. See also:Congo and Portugal, May 2, 1891, as to " spheres de souverainete et d'influence " in the region of Lunda. Great Britain, See also:Belgium and Congo, May 12, 1894, as to the See also:sphere of influence of the independent Congo State. Great Britain and See also:Germany, See also:July 1, 1890 and November 15, 1893, as to East and Central Africa. Great Britain and See also:Russia as to the spheres of influence to the east of Lake See also:Victoria in the region of the See also:Pamirs, See also:March 11, 1895.

As an example of the promises or engagements in such treaties may be quoted that between Great Britain and Portugal of the loth of August 1890. Portugal engages that the territory of which the limits are defined in article 3 shall not, without the consent of Great Britain, be transferred to any other power. In the treaty between the same powers of the 14th of November 1890 it is stipulated that neither power will make, See also:

tender, accept protectorates, or exercise any act of sovereignty, &c. Sometimes a treaty defining spheres of influence declares that such and such territory shall be neutral. In the treaty of delimitation between France and Germany of the 15th of March 1894, the line of demarcation of the zones of influence of the two states in the region of Lake Chad is See also:drawn, and they agree to exercise no See also:political influence in such spheres. Each of the states agrees (See also:art. 2) to acquire no territory, to conclude no treaties, to accept no rights of sovereignty, or protectorate, and not " goner ou de contester l'influence de l'autre Puissance clans la See also:zone qui lui est reservee." Being the result of treaties, arrangements as to spheres of influence bind only the parties thereto. As Mr See also:Olney, in his correspondence with Lord Salisbury in regard to See also:Venezuela, remarked: " Arrangements as to spheres of influence are new departures, which certain great See also:European Powers have found necessary and convenient in the course of their See also:division among themselves of great tracts of the continent of Africa, and which find their See also:sanction solely in their reciprocal obligations " (See also:United States No. 2, 1896, p. 27). Some treaties expressly declare that the arrangement shall not affect the rights of other powers (Stoerck, Recueil, xvi. p. 932).

No doubt, however, the tendency is for spheres of influence to become protectora.es. It may be mentioned that Germany and See also:

Holland have concluded a treaty (Dec. 21, 1897) by which the latter agrees to extradite See also:German criminals in spheres of influence. By an agreement of the 12th of May 1894 between Great Britain and the Congo State, the former granted to the latter a See also:lease of territories comprised within the sphere of influence laid down in the Anglo-German agreement of the Ist of July 1890 (19 Hertslet, p. 179). Somewhat akin to the rights of a state in a sphere of influence are those possessed by Germany in the zone 'surrounding the protectorate of Kiaochow under the treaty of the 6th of March 1898, and the rights obtained under treaties with See also:China that certain provinces shall not be alienated. Somewhat similar arrangements as to ports of the See also:sea are not unknown. Grotius in his Mare liberum says: " Illud See also:interim fatemur, potuisse inter gentes aliquas convenire, ut capti in See also:maris hac vel parte, hujus aut illius reipublicae judicium subirent, atque ita ad commoditatem distinguendae jurisdictions in mari fines describi, quod ipsos quidem See also:earn See also:sibi legem ferentes obligat, at alios populos non See also:item; neque locum cujus proprium facit, sed in personas.contrahentium See also:jus constituit " (c. 5). The best known example of a claim to a sphere of influence, which is not the result of any treaty, is the See also:Monroe doctrine, first broached by See also:President Monroe in 1823. The See also:Romans had their See also:equivalent to the Monroe doctrine; they forbade any See also:Asiatic See also:king entering See also:Europe and conquering any part of it; the See also:breach of this See also:rule was their chief grievance against See also:Mithradates (See also:Montesquieu, De la Grandeur et de la decadence des romains, (c. 6).

Claims somewhat similar to those See also:

relating to spheres of influence have been put forward as against the whole See also:world, in virtue of the right of continuity or the doctrine of the See also:Hinterland. hinterland. Sometimes it is called the " doctrine of contiguity," or " droit de vicinite, de priorite, de preemption ou d'See also:enclave." He who occupies a part of a well-defined See also:close or fundus, a See also:parcel of land with artificial or natural boundaries, which enables him to See also:control the whole See also:area, may be said to occupy it. He need not be present everywhere, or enter on every part of it: " Sufficit quamlibet partem ejus fundi introire, dim mente et cogitatione hac sit, uti totum fundum usque ad terminum velit possidere " (Dig. xli. 2, 3). In virtue of a supposed See also:analogy to such occupation, it has been, said that the occupation of the mouth of a See also:river is constructive occupation of all its See also:basin and tributaries, and that the occupation of part of a territory extends to all the See also:country of which it forms physically a part. A state, having actually occupied the coast, may claim to reserve to itself the right of occupying from See also:time to time territory lying inland (hinterland). In the discussions as to the western boundary of See also:Louisiana between the commissions of the United States and See also:Spain, as to See also:Oregon, as to the claims of the Portuguese in East Africa, and as to the boundaries of Venezuela, the question of the extent of the rights of the discoverer and occupier came up. Portugal actually claimed all territory lying between her African possessions. It has been urged that the subsequent See also:settlement within a reasonable time of the mouth of a river, " particularly if none of its branches had been explored See also:prior to such discovery, gave the right of occupation, and ultimately of sovereignty, to the whole country drained by such river and its several branches." Another See also:form of the same doctrine is, that the occupier of a part of the sea-coast thereby acquires rights " extending into the interior of the country to the See also:sources of the See also:rivers emptying within that coast, to all their branches, and the country they See also:cover " (See also:Twiss, See also:Laws of Nations in Time of See also:Peace, p.. Flo; Twiss, Oregon Question, p. 245; See also:Bluntschli, s. 282; See also:Phillimore, Commentaries, p.

236; Westlake, International Law, pt. i. p. 128). Lord Salisbury referred to " the See also:

modern doctrine of hinterland with its inevitable contradictions (United States, No. 2, 1896, p. 12). Certainly it is inconsistent with the doctrine, more and more received in recent times, that effective possession is necessary to found a See also:title to sovereignty or control. It is akin to the extravagant claims of the See also:early Portuguese and See also:Spanish navigators to territory on which they had never set See also:foot or eyes. The doctrine of the hinterland is likely to become less important, now that Africa has been parcelled out.

End of Article: SPHERES OF

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