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    Eastern Greenland Case: Norway Vs Denmark 1969

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    DiorVelasquez
    The International Court of Justice was tasked with resolving a dispute between Norway and Denmark over sovereignty in Eastern Greenland. Denmark claimed it had long exercised sovereignty over all of Greenland, while Norway claimed it took possession of an unclaimed area in Eastern Greenland in 1931. The Court examined elements of constructive possession, loss of sovereignty, and estoppel. It ultimately found Norway had recognized Danish sovereignty over Greenland through agreements and acquiescence, being estopped from disputing it after initially renouncing claims to the territory.

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    Eastern Greenland Case: Norway Vs Denmark 1969

    Uploaded by

    DiorVelasquez
    68 views12 pages
    The International Court of Justice was tasked with resolving a dispute between Norway and Denmark over sovereignty in Eastern Greenland. Denmark claimed it had long exercised sovereignty over all of Greenland, while Norway claimed it took possession of an unclaimed area in Eastern Greenland in 1931. The Court examined elements of constructive possession, loss of sovereignty, and estoppel. It ultimately found Norway had recognized Danish sovereignty over Greenland through agreements and acquiescence, being estopped from disputing it after initially renouncing claims to the territory.

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    The International Court of Justice was tasked with resolving a dispute between Norway and Denmark over sovereignty in Eastern Greenland. Denmark claimed it had long exercised sovereignty over all of Greenland, while Norway claimed it took possession of an unclaimed area in Eastern Greenland in 1931. The Court examined elements of constructive possession, loss of sovereignty, and estoppel. It ultimately found Norway had recognized Danish sovereignty over Greenland through agreements and acquiescence, being estopped from disputing it after initially renouncing claims to the territory.

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    68 views12 pages

    Eastern Greenland Case: Norway Vs Denmark 1969

    Uploaded by

    DiorVelasquez
    The International Court of Justice was tasked with resolving a dispute between Norway and Denmark over sovereignty in Eastern Greenland. Denmark claimed it had long exercised sovereignty over all of Greenland, while Norway claimed it took possession of an unclaimed area in Eastern Greenland in 1931. The Court examined elements of constructive possession, loss of sovereignty, and estoppel. It ultimately found Norway had recognized Danish sovereignty over Greenland through agreements and acquiescence, being estopped from disputing it after initially renouncing claims to the territory.

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    of 12

    Eastern Greenland

    Case
    Norway vs Denmark
    1969

    FACTS OF THE
    CASE

    Norway, in its proclamation of July


    10, 1931, said that it is taking
    possession of which is officially
    confirmed, and which is placed
    under Norwegian sovereignty of
    Eirik Raudes Land in Eastern
    Greenland.
    This proclamation was criticized
    for its failure to specify the limits
    of the occupation but it must have
    been intended that on the eastern
    side of the sea and the western
    side the inland ice should
    constitute the limits of the area
    occupied.

    triggered the controversy between


    Denmark and Norway. Denmark claims
    that the sovereignty which it enjoys
    over Greenland has existed for a long
    FACTS OF THE
    CASE
    time, has been continuously and
    peacefully exercised, and until the
    present dispute, has not been
    contested by any Power.
    Also, Denmark claims that Norway, by
    treaty or otherwise herself recognized
    Danish sovereignty over Greenland as a
    whole and therefore cannot dispute it.
    Norway claims that Denmark
    possessed no sovereignty over the area
    which Norway occupied on July 10,
    1931, and that at the time of the

    ISSUE before the


    Court

    Is a country bound by
    the reply given on its
    behalf by its Minister of
    Foreign Affairs?

    FINDINGS OF THE
    COURT

    Constructive Possession

    A claim to sovereignty
    based not upon some
    particular act or title such
    as a treaty of cession but
    merely upon continued
    display of authority,
    involves two elements each
    of which must be shown to
    exist: the intention and will
    to act as sovereign, and
    some actual exercise or
    display of such authority.

    Another circumstance which must be


    taken into account by any tribunal
    which has to adjudicate upon a claim
    FINDINGS OF THE
    to sovereignty over a particular
    COURT
    territory is the extent to which the
    sovereignty is also claimed by some
    other Power. In most of the cases
    involving claims to territorial
    sovereignty which have come before
    an international tribunal, there have
    Constructive
    been two competing claims to the
    Possession
    sovereignty, and the tribunal has had
    to decide which of the two is the
    stronger. One of the peculiar features
    of the present case is that up to 1931
    there was no claim by any Power other
    than Denmark to the sovereignty over
    Greenland. Indeed, up till 1931, no
    Power disputed the Danish claim to

    FINDINGS OF THE
    COURT

    Loss of sovereignty
    by conquest.

    Conquest only operates as a


    cause of loss of sovereignty
    when there is war between two
    States and by reason of the
    defeat of one of them
    sovereignty over territory passes
    from the loser to the victorious
    State. The principle does not
    apply in a case where a
    settlement has been established
    in a distant country and its
    inhabitants are massacred by the
    aboriginal population. Nor is the
    fact of "conquest" established.

    FINDINGS OF THE
    COURT

    Loss of sovereignty by
    voluntary abandonment

    There is nothing to show any


    definite renunciation on the
    part of the Kings of Norway or
    Denmark. Also, despite having
    no intercourse with
    Greenland ,the tradition of the
    Kings rights lived on, and in
    the early part of the 17th
    Century, a revival of interest in
    Greenland on the part of both
    the King and of his people took
    place. That period was an era
    of adventure and exploration.

    FINDINGS OF THE
    COURT

    Estoppel and
    acquiescence by
    Norway

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs of


    Norway and Sweden (Sweden had
    control over Norway during this
    time), wrote to the British Minister
    in Stockholm that the King of
    Sweden and Norway agreed to
    renounce in favor of the Kingdom of
    Denmark their claims over Iceland,
    Greenland, and the Faroe Islands.
    The letter was written because
    Norway-Sweden was asking for the
    intervention of the British Prince
    Regent in settling its differences
    with Denmark, especially with its
    financial obligations under the
    Treaty of Kiel.

    FINDINGS OF THE
    COURT

    Estoppel and
    acquiescence by
    Norway

    A second series of undertakings


    by Norway, recognizing Danish
    sovereignty over Greenland, is
    afforded by various bilateral
    agreements concluded by Norway
    with Denmark, and by various
    multilateral agreements to which
    both Denmark and Norway were
    contracting Parties, in which
    Greenland has been described as
    a Danish colony or as forming
    part of Denmark or in which
    Denmark has been allowed to
    exclude Greenland from the
    operation of the agreement.

    FINDINGS OF THE
    COURT

    Estoppel and
    acquiescence by
    Norway

    Also, Denmark maintained


    that the promise by in 1919
    by M. Ihlen, the Norwegian
    Minister for Foreign affairs,
    speaking on behalf of his
    Government debarred
    Norway from proceeding to
    any occupation of territory
    in Greenland even if she
    had not by other acts
    recognized an existing
    Danish sovereignty there.

    End

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