stefansson-wrangel-09-37-034

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arbitration, concerned the boundary of Brazil and British Guiana.
The question was submitted to the decision of the King of Italy,
94 British and Foreign State Papers, 23, and his award is contain-
ed in 99 British and Foreign State Papers, 930. On page 931,
after a discussion of certain territories to which it was
apparent that Great Britain had a claim:

"That it does not appear from the documents produced to us,
which have been weighed and duly considered, that there are
historical and legal claims on which to found thoroughly deter-
mined and well-defined rights of sovereignty in favor of either
of the contending powers over the whole territory in dispute,
but only over certain portions of the same;

That not even the limit of the zone of territory over which
the right of sovereignty of one or the other of the two parties
may be held to be established can be fixed with precision;

That it cannot either be decided with certainty whether the
right of Great Britain or of Brazil is the stronger.

In this condition of affairs, since it is our duty to fix the
line of frontier between the dominions of the two powers, we have
come to the conclusion that, in the present state of the geo-
graphical knowledge of the region, it is not possible to divide
the contested territory into two equal parts as regards extent
and value, but that it is necessary that it should be divided
in accordance with the lines traced by nature, and that the pre-
ference should be given to a frontier which, while clearly de-
fined throughout its whole course, the better lends itself to a
fair decision of the disputed territory.

For these reasons, we decide:-”

This award was given at Rome in 1904.

”ln the present state of geographical knowledge of the
territory” the actual occupation of the territory by either party
could not have been particularly effective. On what basis could
either country make a claim to a tract of land which neither of
them had occupied? Suppose that a strong colony had been est-
ablished by some third power subsequent to this award in a part
of the territory previously in dispute. Either country would