no mans land

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The term no man's land ( Latin terra nullius ) denotes an area that does not belong to anyone, i.e.

  1. is legally ownerless , or
  2. is not populated and maintained or cultivated by anyone, or
  3. lies between the front lines of war.

In a figurative sense, this also means a particularly inhospitable area.

Terra Nullius was a legal term already used in Roman law . Related in meaning and application is the term Res Nullius , which means something like nobody's property or property .

In modern usage, the term refers to doctrines from the 16th and 17th centuries that suggested the ownership of areas not controlled by any entity recognized by a European power.

In the 18th century, among others, the Swiss international lawyer Emerich de Vattel derived from this that uncultivated land that is not subject to any recognized power does not belong to anyone, thus creating a legal basis for the European powers to colonize areas inhabited by "primitive" peoples .

Colloquially, the area between the control points at border crossings or the border area strips controlled by the respective states, which usually may not be entered uncontrolled, is also referred to as no man's land .

use cases

British soldiers visit the former no man's land on the battlefield at Vimy from the First World War

Typical applications are:

  1. Constitutional:
  2. Ownership:

Terrae Nullius in the 20th and 21st centuries

The largest no man's land in the world is Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica , which is not claimed by any nation. There are also areas in the Antarctic that are claimed by certain nations, but are controversial under international law. The United States government stated that it did not recognize territorial claims and that all of Antarctica was no man's land (see Antarctic Treaty ) .

In 1931 Norway occupied an area in eastern Greenland with the establishment of Terra Nullius . However, the Permanent International Court of Justice ruled in Denmark in 1933 on the matter.

There are several examples in history of so-called neutral zones between two states. The best known were the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Iraq , which existed from 1922 to 1991, and the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait , which existed from 1922 to 1970. These areas were administered jointly by the neighboring states.

In 1992, in Australia, the highest court in the country found Mabo v. Queensland (No. 2) states that the continent was not a Terra Nullius before British colonization began . This led to the fact that the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders were granted land rights with the Native Title .

In the Middle East conflict , for example, there is the opinion, advocated by international lawyer Elihu Lauterpacht , the publisher of Oppenheim's International Law - albeit highly controversial - that no state had sovereignty over the West Bank at the beginning of the war of 1948/49 and that Jordan was able to assert itself through military appropriation In the course of this war I did not acquire any legitimate rights to the area. In his eyes, the area was therefore Terra Nullius, "which any state could appropriate that could exercise effective and stable control without resorting to illegal means."

Bir Tawil is a small area between the borders of Egypt and Sudan, which is considered a no man's land due to the differently designed borders between 1899 and 1902.

The principality of Sealand is a curiosity . In 1967 a private citizen proclaimed an abandoned platform off the coast of England, which he regarded as Terra Nullius , to be an independent state. However, the micronation did not experience any international recognition.

The most recent alleged application of the Terra nullius doctrine is the establishment of the micronation Liberland by the Czech Vít Jedlička in the Danube border area between Serbia and Croatia. Jedlička argues that the area he claims has become ownerless as a result of border disputes between the two countries.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: No man's land  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Terra nullius  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lucius Burckhardt : Where Anne got her first kiss. In: Michael Andritzky, Klaus Spitzer (Ed.): Green in the city. From above, by yourself, for everyone, by everyone (= rororo 7464 rororo non-fiction ). Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-499-17464-2 , pp. 114–115.
  2. ↑ Curious: the Czech proclaims its own state on the Danube , Kleine Zeitung April 15, 2015, last accessed on February 16, 2016.