Territory, Borders, and Boundary Disputes in International Law
Territory, borders, and boundary disputes sit at the center of international law because territory gives state authority a physical domain. This article examines territorial sovereignty, territorial integrity, title to territory, effective control, effectivités, treaties, maps, critical dates, intertemporal law, uti possidetis juris, colonial boundaries, rivers, islands, maritime delimitation, occupation, annexation, self-determination, and the legal settlement of disputed frontiers. It explains major cases including Island of Palmas, Frontier Dispute, Temple of Preah Vihear, Cameroon v. Nigeria, and Nicaragua v. Colombia, while showing how boundary law stabilizes international order yet often preserves histories of empire, partition, indigenous dispossession, occupation, and unequal power.









