State Title to Territory—The Historical Conjunction of Sovereignty and Property

Abstract

Why, in the course of the 19th century, did legal scholars come to treat State territory as State property? This essay recounts a history of “title” to territory, as sovereignty became territorial and the State became an owner of territory. The comparison of international law and private law encouraged the treatment of territory as property, and was substantiated through prize law, colonial acquisitions of imperialism, and the analogy between the State and individual, with international leases and eminent domain modeled after property transactions. Recent affirmations of aboriginal title, however, raise the possibility of realignment among sovereignty, territory, and title.