Island of Palmas Case

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Island of Palmas Case, (Scott, Hague Court Reports 2d 83 (1932), (Perm. Ct. Arb. 1928),
2 U.N. Rep. Intl. Arb. Awards 829), was a case involving a territorial dispute over the
Island of Palmas (or Miangas) between the Netherlands and the United States which was
heard by the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The Island of Palmas (known as Pulau
Miangas in Bahasa Indonesian) is now within Indonesian sovereignty.
This case is one of the most highly influential precedents dealing with island territorial
conflicts.
Contents
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1 Facts of the case
2 The Arbitrator's decision
2.1 Right by discovery
2.2 Contiguity
2.3 Continuous and peaceful display of sovereignty
2.4 Conclusion
3 See also
4 Notes
[edit] Facts of the case
Palmas, also referred to as Miangas, is an island of little economic value or strategic
location. It is two miles in length, three-quarters of a mile in width, and had a population
of about 750 when the decision of the arbitrator was handed down. The island is located
between Mindanao, Philippines and the northern most island, known as Nanusa, of what
was the former Netherlands East Indies. In 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines to the
United States in the Treaty of Paris (1898) and Palmas sat within the boundaries of that
cession to the U.S. In 1906, the United States discovered that the Netherlands also
claimed sovereignty over the island, and the two parties agreed to submit to binding
arbitration by the Permanent Court of Arbitration. On January 23, 1925, the two
government signed an agreement to that effect. Ratifications were exchanged in
Washington on April 1, 1925. The agreement was registered in League of Nations Treaty
Series on May 19, 1925.[1] The arbitrator in the case was Max Huber, a Swiss national.
The question the arbitrator was to resolve was whether the Island of Palmas (Miangas), in
its entirety, was a part of the territory of the United States or the Netherlands.
The legal issue presented was whether a territory belongs to the first discoverer, even if
they do not exercise authority over the territory, or whether it belongs to the state which
actually exercises sovereignty over it.
[edit] The Arbitrator's decision

The Arbitrator, Swiss lawyer Max Huber, ruled in favor of the Netherlands position and
stated that the Netherlands held actual title to Palmas :
For these reasons
The Arbitrator in conformity with Article I of the Special Agreement of January 23rd,
1925 DECIDES that : THE ISLAND OF PALMAS (or MIANGAS) forms in its entirety
a part of the Netherlands territory. done at The Hague, this fourth day of April 1928. Max
Huber, Arbitrator Michiels van Verduynen, Secretary-General.[2]
[edit] Right by discovery
In the first of its two arguments, the United States argued that it held the island because it
had received actual title through legitimate treaties from the original "discoverer" of the
island, Spain. The United States argued that Spain acquired title to Palmas when Spain
discovered the island and the island was terra nullius. Spain's title to the island, because it
was a part of the Philippines, was then ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Paris
(1898) after Spain's defeat in the Spanish-American War. The arbitrator noted that no new
international law invalidated the legal transfer of territory via cession.
However, the arbitrator noted that Spain could not legally grant what it did not hold and
the Treaty of Paris could not grant to the United States Palmas if Spain had no actual title
to it. The arbitrator concluded that Spain held an inchoate title when Spain discovered
Palmas. However, for a sovereign to maintain its initial title via discovery, the arbitrator
said that the discoverer had to actually exercise authority, even if it were as simple an act
as planting a flag on the beach. In this case, Spain did not exercise authority over the
island after making an initial claim after discovery and so the United States claim was
based on relatively weak grounds.
[edit] Contiguity
The United States also argued that Palmas was United States territory because the island
was closer to the Philippines than to Indonesia which was then held by the Netherlands
East Indies. The arbitrator said there was no positive international law which favored the
United States' approach of terra firma, where the nearest continent or island of
considerable size gives title to the land in dispute. The arbitrator held that mere proximity
was not an adequate claim to land noted that if the international community followed the
proposed United States approach, it would lead to arbitrary results.
[edit] Continuous and peaceful display of sovereignty
The Netherlands' primary contention was that it held actual title because the Netherlands
had exercised authority on the island since 1677. The arbitrator noted that the United
States had failed to show documentation proving Spanish sovereignty on the island
except those documents that specifically mentioned the island's discovery. Additionally,
there was no evidence that Palmas was a part of the judicial or administrative
organization of the Spanish government of the Philippines. However, the Netherlands
showed that the Dutch East India Company had negotiated treaties with the local princes

of the island since the 17th century and had exercised sovereignty, including a
requirement of Protestantism and the denial of other nationals on the island. The
arbitrator pointed out that if Spain had actually exercised authority, than there would have
been conflicts between the two countries but none are provided in the evidence.
[edit] Conclusion
Under the Palmas decision, three important rules for resolving island territorial disputes
were decided:
Firstly, title based on contiguity has no standing in international law.
Secondly, title by discovery is only an inchoate title.
Finally, if another sovereign begins to exercise continuous and actual sovereignty, (and
the arbitrator required that the claim had to be open and public and with good title), and
the discoverer does not contest this claim, the claim by the sovereign that exercises
authority is greater than a title based on mere discovery.
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