This article is about the incorporation of additional territory into a nation state. For the incorporation of additional territory into an urban area, see Municipal annexation.
Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel, passed by the Knesset on 30 July 1980
Federal Law Admitting to the Russian Federation the Republic of Crimea, passed by the State Duma on 21 March 2014
Two examples of unilateral annexation laws, both illegal under international law
Annexation,[1] in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory.[2] In current international law, it is generally held to be an illegal act.[3] Annexation is a unilateral act where territory is seized and held by one state,[4] as distinct from the complete conquest of another country,[a][7][8] and differs from cession, in which territory is given or sold through treaty.
Annexation can be legitimized if generally recognized by other states and international bodies.[4][9][2]
The illegality of annexation means that states carrying out such acts usually avoid using the word annexation in describing their actions;[10][11] in each of the unresolved annexations by Israel, Morocco and Russia, the states have avoided characterizing their actions as such.[11][12]
^(Latin ad, to, and nexus, joining)
^ abRothwell et al. 2014, p. 360: "Annexation is distinct from cession. Instead of a State seeking to relinquish territory, annexation occurs when the acquiring State asserts that it now holds the territory. Annexation will usual follow a military occupation of a territory, when the occupying power decides to cement its physical control by asserting legal title. The annexation of territory is essentially the administrative action associated with conquest. Mere conquest alone is not enough, but rather the conquering State must assert it is now sovereign over the territory concerned. For example, the defeat of Germany and Japan in 1945 led to their occupation by the United States and allies for a number of years, but the States themselves were not absorbed by the Allied Powers part of their respective territories. Examples of annexation in contemporary practice are not common, and are generally viewed as illegal."
^Hofmann 2013, p. i: "Annexation means the forcible acquisition of territory by one State at the expense of another State. It is one of the principal modes of acquiring territory... in contrast to acquisition a) of terra nullius by means of effective occupation accompanied by the intent to appropriate the territory; b) by cession as a result of a treaty concluded between the States concerned (Treaties), or an act of adjudication, both followed by the effective peaceful transfer of territory; c) by means of prescription defined as the legitimization of a doubtful title to territory by passage of time and presumed acquiescence of the former sovereign; d) by accretion constituting the physical process by which new land is formed close to, or becomes attached to, existing land. Under present international law, annexation no longer constitutes a legally admissible mode of acquisition of territory as it violates the prohibition of the threat or use of force. Therefore annexations must not be recognized as legal."
^ abOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Barclay, Thomas (1911). "Annexation". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 73.
^Goertz, Gary; Diehl, Paul F.; Balas, Alexandru (2016), "The Development of Territorial Norms and the Norm against Conquest", The Puzzle of Peace, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199301027.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-930102-7
^Altman, Dan (2020). "The Evolution of Territorial Conquest After 1945 and the Limits of the Territorial Integrity Norm". International Organization. 74 (3): 490–522. doi:10.1017/S0020818320000119. ISSN 0020-8183. S2CID 226467742. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
^Marcelo G Kohen (2017). "Conquest". In Frauke Lachenmann; Rüdiger Wolfrum (eds.). The Law of Armed Conflict and the Use of Force: The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law. Oxford University Press. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-19-878462-3. Conquest and annexation are not synonymous either. The latter term is used within and outside the context of armed conflicts, to designate a unilateral decision adopted by a State in order to extend its sovereignty over a given territory. In many cases, the effective occupation of a terra nullius was followed by a declaration of annexation, in order to incorporate the territory under the sovereignty of the acquiring State. In the context of armed conflicts, annexation is the case in which the victorious State unilaterally declares that it is henceforth sovereign over the territory having passed under its control as a result of hostilities. This attempt at producing a transfer of sovereignty through the exclusive decision of the victor is not generally recognized as valid, both in classical and in contemporary international law. An example of a case of annexation preceding the adoption of the UN Charter is the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1908. The annexation was not recognized by the major Powers and required a modification of the 1878 Treaty of Berlin which had simply granted Austria-Hungary the right to administer the territory. Another example is the annexation of Ethiopia by Italy in 1936. Examples of purported contemporary annexations are the Golan Heights annexed by Israel in 1980 and Kuwait by Iraq in 1990, both declared null and void by the Security Council, or the incorporation of Crimea and the City of Sebastopol in the Russian Federation.
^Kohen, p.288, refers to clause 101 of the PERMANENT COURT OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE, 1933, April 5th, General List: No. 43. TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION, LEGAL STATUS OF EASTERN GREENLAND: "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."
^"Annexation". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 20 March 2014. Unlike cession, whereby territory is given or sold through treaty, annexation is a unilateral act made effective by actual possession and legitimized by general recognition.
^Dajani, Omar M. (2017). "Symposium on revisiting Israel's settlements: Israel's creeping annexation". AJIL Unbound. 111. Cambridge University Press: 51–56. doi:10.1017/aju.2017.21. ISSN 2398-7723. S2CID 149297181. Archived from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022. …today's legal prohibition of conquest creates an incentive for states to obfuscate the reality of annexation that did not exist when such actions were lawful. Excessive formalism, accordingly, seems misplaced when assessing whether a state has manifested an intention to hold a territory "under its dominion" with sufficient clarity to constitute an unlawful annexation. Indeed, state practice offers no shortage of examples in which the international community has looked past a state's formal characterization of its actions when evaluating their lawfulness for this purpose—most recently in relation to Russia's annexation of Crimea. Accordingly, while a formal act of annexation is powerful evidence of intent, the lack of one is by no means dispositive. What other kinds of acts signal such an intention? As noted above, it may be signaled by a state's exercise, for a prolonged time, of the kinds of governmental functions typically reserved to a sovereign. An occupant's refusal to accept the law of occupation's applicability would seem probative for drawing this conclusion—as would a refusal to comply with duties under that law that relate specifically to distinguishing the rights of an occupant from those of a sovereign.
^ abKorman, S. (1996). The Right of Conquest: The Acquisition of Territory by Force in International Law and Practice. Clarendon Press. pp. 253–254 (also see note 11). ISBN 978-0-19-158380-3. Retrieved 9 March 2022. However, in an era which has repudiated the 'right of conquest', the term 'annexation' is discreetly avoided by all states effecting acquisitions of territory by force.
^Boris N. Mamlyuk (6 July 2015). "The Ukraine Crisis, Cold War II, and International Law". The German Law Journal. SSRN 2627417.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following...
independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2, 1836. It applied for annexation to the United States the same year, but was rejected by the United States...
The Annexation of Goa was the process in which the Republic of India annexed the State of India, the then Portuguese Indian territories of Goa, Daman and...
as the Anschluß Österreichs (pronunciation, English: Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich...
self-determination of peoples. The names of the Crimean annexation vary. In Ukraine, the annexation is known as the temporary occupation of the Autonomous...
of South and Western India) 17°00′N 78°50′E / 17.000°N 78.833°E / 17.000; 78.833 Result Indian victory Annexation of Hyderabad to the Union of India...
The Bosnian Crisis, also known as the Annexation Crisis (German: Bosnische Annexionskrise, Turkish: Bosna Krizi; Serbo-Croatian: Aneksiona kriza, Анексиона...
Annexation of Crimea may refer to: Annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire (1783) Annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by the Russian Federation...
as ruler. The West Bank was formally annexed on 24 April 1950, but the annexation was widely considered as illegal and void by most of the international...
On 5 August 2019, the Government of India revoked the special status, or autonomy, granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir—a...
today, various movements within Canada have campaigned in favour of U.S. annexation of parts or all of Canada. Historical studies have focused on numerous...
with the settler-colonial displacement of Indigenous Americans and the annexation of lands to the west of the United States borders at the time on the continent...
Israel annexation may refer to: Annexation of East Jerusalem, as provided by the Jerusalem Law in 1980 Annexation of the Golan Heights, as provided by...
Municipal annexation is the legal process by which a city or other municipality acquires land as its jurisdictional territory (as opposed to simply owning...
the early 18th century, Russia had vastly expanded through conquest, annexation, and the efforts of Russian explorers, developing into the Russian Empire...
Government) of the people of Junagadh. Eventually, Patel ordered the forcible annexation of Junagadh's three principalities. Junagadh's state government, facing...
The background of the occupation of the Baltic states covers the period before the first Soviet occupation on 14 June 1940, stretching from independence...
Purandhar Singha, but in 1838 the region was formally annexed into the British empire. "British Annexation of Assam". abhimanuias.com. Retrieved 2019-12-15....
Retrieved January 11, 2024. Hidalgo, Dennis (1997). "Charles Sumner and the Annexation of the Dominican Republic". Itinerario. 21 (2): 51–66. doi:10.1017/S0165115300022841...
drafted by Representative Francis G. Newlands of Nevada, a Democrat. Annexation was a highly controversial political issue, along with the similar issue...
through incorporation as a city, amalgamation or annexation of other urban municipalities, annexation of rural lands from its surrounding neighbours, and...
the annexation was marked by Russian interference in Crimean affairs, a series of revolts by Crimean Tatars, and Ottoman ambivalence. The annexation began...
close contest turning on the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of the Republic of Texas. This is the only election in which both major...
republics" in August 1940. Most Western countries did not recognise this annexation, and considered it illegal. On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the...