Note on Conquest and Cession

Abstract

In this note Wight provided a brief survey of institutions for the conquest and cession of territories, illustrated by examples in European history since the fifteenth century. Some legal and political forms concealed de facto conquest and cession to spare the amour propre of the losing party and thereby minimize its humiliation. In some cases, enfeoffment combined conquest with continuing vassal status. Other methods of saving face and bargaining over status included granting an imperial vicariate, diplomatically evading the issue, camouflaging the cession, and making the cession conditional. Conquest and cession became more direct and undisguised with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, if not earlier. Since the eighteenth century, however, the consent of the residents of the territory to be ceded has become a more prominent issue. Since 1919 disregard for previous approaches to conquest and cession has led to new political and legal frameworks on recognition involving national policies such as the Stimson Doctrine, international treaties such as the Kellogg–Briand Pact, and international organizations such as the League of Nations and the United Nations.