Condominium (international law)

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For the modern meaning as a type of housing, see Condominium

In international law, a condominium (plural either condominia, as in Latin, or condominiums) is a political territory (state or border area) in or over which two or more sovereign powers formally agree to share equally dominium (in the sense of sovereignty) and exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it up into 'national' zones.

Although a condominium has always been recognised as a theoretical possibility, condominiums have been rare in practice. A major problem, and the reason why so few have existed in practice, is the difficulty of ensuring co-operation between the sovereign powers; once the understanding fails, the status is likely to become intenable.

The word is recorded in English since c.1714, from Modern Latin, apparently coined in Germany c.1700 from Latin com- "together" + dominum "right of ownership" (compare domain).

Contents

1 Western condominia
2 Co-principality
3 Colonial condominia
4 Other project
5 See also
6 Sources and references

Western condominia

Cyprus was shared for over 300 years between the Byzantine emperor and the caliph.
The Oregon Country was an Anglo-American condominium from 1818 until 1846
Neutral Moresnet was shared from 1816 until 1919 between The Netherlands (later Belgium) and Prussia (later Germany).
Maastricht, essentially a condominium of Belgium and Holland between 1830 and the 1839 Treaty of London.
The Countship of Friesland (West Friesia), since 1165 under Imperial administration, was from 1165 to 1493 a joint condominium of the Count of Holland and the Prince-bishop of Utrecht, then again till 25 October, 1555 under Imperial administration.
Northern Dobruja
The main part of Lake Constance (without islands) is a condominium shared among Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
In the Basque country, tiny "Isla de los Faisanes" in the River Bidasoa between France and Spain.

Co-principality

Under French law, Andorra was once considered to be a French–Spanish condominium, although it is more commonly classed as a co-principality.

Colonial condominia

The term "colonial" is meant broadly.

The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was a British–Egyptian condominium until 1956.
the Samoa Islands from 1889 to 1899 were a rare tripartite condominium under joint protectorate of Germany, Britain and the USA
The Canton and Enderbury Islands were a British–American condominium from 1939 until 1979 when they became part of Kiribati.
The New Hebrides formed a French–British condominium until independence in 1980 as a republic, now called Vanuatu
Sakhalin
From 26 August 1914, under British and French occupation, the German protectorate (a colony since 1905) of Togoland was an Anglo-French condominium, until its partition on 27 December 1916 into French and British zones, which were transformed on 20 July 1922 into two separate League of Nations mandates: British Togoland (which joined Gold Coast, present Ghana, in 1956) and French Togoland, the present repiblic of Togo.

Other project

In 2001, the British government proposed sharing sovereignty of Gibraltar with Spain, but this was decisively rejected by the people of Gibraltar in a referendum in 2002.

Sources and references

[WorldStatesmen- see each present country]