Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case
Sovereignty acquired by occupation entails “recognize[d] title based on discovery,” “a reasonable period [of] … effective occupation of the region claimed to be discovered” and “the continuous and peaceful display of State authority.” Only terra nullius is subject to occupation. A territory inhabite...
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University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Law
2016
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Online Access: | https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262 https://doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.262 |
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ftjarlp:oai:nordicopenaccess.no:article/262 2023-05-15T14:18:43+02:00 Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case Ørebech, Peter Thomas 2016-05-23 application/pdf text/html application/epub+zip application/xml https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262 https://doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.262 eng eng University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Law https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262/810 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262/811 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262/812 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262/813 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262 doi:10.17585/arctic.v7.262 Copyright (c) 2016 Arctic Review Arctic Review; Vol 7 No 1 (2016) 2387-4562 discovery occupation sovereignty Norse and Indigenous peoples Inuits Eastern Greenland Case – Permanent Court of International Justice 1933 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2016 ftjarlp https://doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.262 2022-03-24T06:34:42Z Sovereignty acquired by occupation entails “recognize[d] title based on discovery,” “a reasonable period [of] … effective occupation of the region claimed to be discovered” and “the continuous and peaceful display of State authority.” Only terra nullius is subject to occupation. A territory inhabited by indigenous groups that sustain social and political organization may impede an occupying power because the terra nullius requirement fails. While sovereignty over thinly populated areas are often lax, case law requires less public involvement in these sparsely inhabited areas. This study reveals that the Dano-Norwegian Kings regarded the Inuit as “our subjects.” The Kings’ pretention of absolutum dominium and jurisdiction involved both the Norse and Inuit ethnic groups and “bygð ok ubygð” (settled and unsettled) land. The exodus of the Norse peoples in 1450 AD for 200 years did not undermine the acquired sovereignty of the Dano-Norwegian Crown, which as a result, spoiled the 1931 Norwegian pretentions to legally occupy East-Greenland. Denmark’s triumph in the 1933-East Greenland case resulted from a “zero-sum principle.” More than a 100 years earlier, the Danish Kingdom lost a succession of countries and dependencies. The 1814 Kiel Treaty transferred mainland Norway to Sweden, but explicitly states that none of the ancient Norwegian dependencies, Greenland, Iceland and Faroe Islands would follow suit. Thus, these territories remained part of the Kingdom of Denmark.(Published: May 2016)Citation: P. T. Ørebech. “Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case.” Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2016, pp. 20–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.262 Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic East Greenland Faroe Islands Greenland Iceland inuit inuits Arctic Review on Law and Politics Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Norway Arctic Review on Law and Politics 7 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Arctic Review on Law and Politics |
op_collection_id |
ftjarlp |
language |
English |
topic |
discovery occupation sovereignty Norse and Indigenous peoples Inuits Eastern Greenland Case – Permanent Court of International Justice 1933 |
spellingShingle |
discovery occupation sovereignty Norse and Indigenous peoples Inuits Eastern Greenland Case – Permanent Court of International Justice 1933 Ørebech, Peter Thomas Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case |
topic_facet |
discovery occupation sovereignty Norse and Indigenous peoples Inuits Eastern Greenland Case – Permanent Court of International Justice 1933 |
description |
Sovereignty acquired by occupation entails “recognize[d] title based on discovery,” “a reasonable period [of] … effective occupation of the region claimed to be discovered” and “the continuous and peaceful display of State authority.” Only terra nullius is subject to occupation. A territory inhabited by indigenous groups that sustain social and political organization may impede an occupying power because the terra nullius requirement fails. While sovereignty over thinly populated areas are often lax, case law requires less public involvement in these sparsely inhabited areas. This study reveals that the Dano-Norwegian Kings regarded the Inuit as “our subjects.” The Kings’ pretention of absolutum dominium and jurisdiction involved both the Norse and Inuit ethnic groups and “bygð ok ubygð” (settled and unsettled) land. The exodus of the Norse peoples in 1450 AD for 200 years did not undermine the acquired sovereignty of the Dano-Norwegian Crown, which as a result, spoiled the 1931 Norwegian pretentions to legally occupy East-Greenland. Denmark’s triumph in the 1933-East Greenland case resulted from a “zero-sum principle.” More than a 100 years earlier, the Danish Kingdom lost a succession of countries and dependencies. The 1814 Kiel Treaty transferred mainland Norway to Sweden, but explicitly states that none of the ancient Norwegian dependencies, Greenland, Iceland and Faroe Islands would follow suit. Thus, these territories remained part of the Kingdom of Denmark.(Published: May 2016)Citation: P. T. Ørebech. “Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case.” Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2016, pp. 20–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.262 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ørebech, Peter Thomas |
author_facet |
Ørebech, Peter Thomas |
author_sort |
Ørebech, Peter Thomas |
title |
Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case |
title_short |
Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case |
title_full |
Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case |
title_fullStr |
Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case |
title_full_unstemmed |
Terra nullius, Inuit Habitation and Norse Occupation – With Special Emphasis on the 1933 East Greenland Case |
title_sort |
terra nullius, inuit habitation and norse occupation – with special emphasis on the 1933 east greenland case |
publisher |
University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Law |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262 https://doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.262 |
geographic |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Norway |
genre |
Arctic Arctic East Greenland Faroe Islands Greenland Iceland inuit inuits |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic East Greenland Faroe Islands Greenland Iceland inuit inuits |
op_source |
Arctic Review; Vol 7 No 1 (2016) 2387-4562 |
op_relation |
https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262/810 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262/811 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262/812 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262/813 https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/262 doi:10.17585/arctic.v7.262 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2016 Arctic Review |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17585/arctic.v7.262 |
container_title |
Arctic Review on Law and Politics |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
1 |
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