Island of Palmas Case (United States v. The Netherlands)
Permanent Court of Arbitration
2 U.N. Rep. Int'l Arb. Awards 829 (1928)
Relevant factsFree
The United States and the Netherlands submitted to arbitration the question of which nation owned the Island of Palmas, located within the Philippines that Spain ceded to the United States under the 1898 Treaty of Paris. Spain had first discovered Palmas in the early seventeenth century and claimed title on that basis, but the Netherlands had peacefully and continuously possessed the island since at least 1677.
IssueFree
Whether a state may gain territorial sovereignty over land through its continuous and peaceful display of sovereignty over the territory, even if that state was not the first to discover it.