What is the right of conquest?

In international law, the Right of Conquest is defined as “the purported right of a conqueror to territory which he has taken by force of arms.” This theory is based on the proposition that a state which emerges victorious in war is entitled to claim ownership of the land of which it has taken possession during a war. Advocates of this right believe that denial of the conqueror’s right over a territory it has won is meaningless except when the conquered uses military force to deny that right. Further more, the Right of Conquest was traditionally accepted based on the assumption that the conquering force is by far stronger and capable of securing peace and stability to the territory than the lawfully entitled governance of which it has taken over. Thus, the right of the conqueror to rule is made legitimate by the Right of Conquest.

Ownership of the land

Ownership of the land

In the 20th century however, the Right of Conquest is abandoned in formal international law due to the devastation of the two World Wars. The principle is dismantled through various efforts including the UN Charter, the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, and the post-1945 Nuremberg Trials. Meanwhile, under the real property law, the ownership of property through conquest is also considered as unjustifiable. However, since the ownership of land by force of arms took place a long time ago, and the right of the occupier has already been established, it would be hard for the descendants of the original occupier of the land to claim their right in the property. On the other hand, in the event when the property in question is unregistered and the conquest happened in the present time, the first person who occupies the property may be able to defend his ownership to the property against the conquering party by establishing his or her rights to it. The first occupier’s right on the plot of ground can be established under the following conditions:

the land is not yet inhabited
the first occupier inhabits only a parcel of land that he/she needs for his/her subsistence
the first occupier has taken possession of the land by doing what a rightful owner would do, such as labour and cultivation