condominium (international law)

In international law, a condominium is a territory in which two sovereign powers have equal rights. Although a condominium has always been recognized as a theoretical possibility, condominiums have been rare in practice. The biggest difficulty with condominiums/condominia is solving disputes between the two sovereign powers, and ensuring co-operation between them; which is one reason why so few have existed in practice.

Examples of condominiums

Neutral Moresnet was shared from 1816 until 1919 between The Netherlands (later Belgium) and Prussia (later Germany).
Sudan was an British–Egyptian condominium until 1956.
The Canton and Enderbury Islands were a British–American condominium from 1939 until 1979 when they became part of Kiribati.
The New Hebrides formed a French–British condominium until independence as Vanuatu in 1980.
Under French law, Andorra was once considered to be a French–Spanish condominium, although it is more commonly classed as a co-principality.
In 2001, the British government proposed sharing sovereignty of Gibraltar with Spain, but this was decisively rejected by the people of Gibraltar in a referendum in 2002.

Condominium (International Law)

Examples of condominiums

See also