SOVEREIGNTY 



The present high development of aircraft as a means for trans- 

 porting- persons, equipment, and supplies, and the capacity of 

 modern medicine and science to sustain human life and activity 

 in areas of climatic extremes have endowed the north polar regions 

 v^ith great political and military significance for the nations of 

 the northern hemisphere. Consequently, the governments of 

 these states are becoming increasingly concerned w^ith the question 

 of sovereignty in the region. 



In this connection, the problem of occupation is paramount. 

 The established law in this regard was concisely set forth in the 

 Isle of Palms arbitration. The court held that, according to the 

 view that has prevailed since the nineteenth century, discovery 

 gives only an inchoate title to territory. The title of discovery 

 must be completed within a reasonable period by the effective oc- 

 cupation of the region claimed to be discovered, before sovereignty 

 is vested in the discovering state. 



The problem of sovereignty in the Arctic is complicated by the 

 fact that, in addition to land and ice areas resting on land, there 

 is a second type of area (ice resting on the sea) on which men 

 can build habitations and live for an indefinite period of time while 

 carrying on activities normally pursued on land. In this sense, it 

 could be argued that men might permanently occupy such areas, 

 and that they are, therefore, susceptible to sovereignty. Logical 

 as this may appear, such an argument has no legal validity. In 

 law, an effective occupation is more than a matter of the nature 

 of the habitations and activities in a given area. Above all, the 

 area itself must be stationary and capable of having permanent 

 and clearly ascertainable boundaries. The natural movement of 



Figure 4-1 . — Ice areas resting on the sea have no permanent boundaries. 



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