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35-530: A League of Nations mandate represented a legal status under international law for specific territories following World War I , involving the transfer of control from one nation to another. These mandates served as legal documents establishing the internationally agreed terms for administering the territory on behalf of the League of Nations . Combining elements of both a treaty and a constitution , these mandates contained minority rights clauses that provided for

70-481: A prolonged guerrilla conflict against the apartheid regime that lasted from 1966 until 1990. Nearly all the former League of Nations mandates had become sovereign states by 1990, including all of the former UN trust territories with the exception of a few successor entities of the gradually dismembered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (formerly Japan's South Pacific Trust Mandate). These exceptions include

105-539: A greater level of control by the mandatory power: "...the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience and religion." The mandatory power was forbidden to construct military or naval bases within the mandates. Class C mandates , including South West Africa and the South Pacific Islands, were considered to be "best administered under

140-462: A key role in establishing that the mandates could not be annexed by the colonial powers. The PMC helped to establish that the mandates had a unique status under international law . The PMC was established by the victors of World War I to oversee the former colonial possessions of the Ottoman Empire and German Empire. The British and French wanted to govern these possessions as colonies, whereas

175-681: A nationality clearly different from the other. After the United Nations was founded in 1945 and the League of Nations was disbanded, all but one of the mandated territories became United Nations trust territories , a roughly equivalent status. In each case, the colonial power that held the mandate on each territory became the administering power of the trusteeship, except that of the Empire of Japan , which had been defeated in World War II, lost its mandate over

210-722: A proposition rejected by the UN General Assembly . Despite South Africa's resistance, the International Court of Justice affirmed that South Africa continued to have international obligations regarding the South West Africa mandate. Eventually, in 1990, the mandated territory, now Namibia , gained independence, culminating from the Tripartite Accords and the resolution of the South African Border War —

245-591: A set of characteristics that define an individual's membership in an official class, as a consequence of which rights, duties, capacities and/or incapacities are acquired." This article related to international law is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Permanent Mandates Commission The existence of the Commission was stipulated in Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant : "A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine

280-413: A year to consider annual reports from the mandates; within any session, any number of meetings could be held usually in private although any of these could be public. Extraordinary sessions could also be held in special circumstances. The Commission held its first session from 4 to 8 October 1921. At the first meeting, the members determined that they had the right to examine all aspects of administration in

315-403: Is generally a characteristic of an individual that has some legal consequences. Examples are being a servant, a woman, or a minor. Sometimes legal status refers to a characteristic wholly created by law, such as being a Social Security recipient." Thus, legal status is "a feature of individuals and their relationships to the law." Tiffany Graham added to Balkin's definition: "legal status refers to

350-581: The Northern Mariana Islands which is a commonwealth in political union with the U.S. with the status of unincorporated organised territory . The Northern Mariana Islands does elect its own governor to serve as territorial head of government , but it remains a U.S. territory with its head of state being the President of the United States and federal funds to the commonwealth administered by

385-692: The Office of Insular Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior . Remnant Micronesia and the Marshall Islands , the heirs of the last territories of the Trust, attained final independence on 22 December 1990. (The UN Security Council ratified termination of trusteeship, effectively dissolving trusteeship status, on 10 July 1987.) The Republic of Palau , split off from the Federated States of Micronesia , became

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420-606: The Treaty of Versailles (1919), with the territories being allotted among the Allies on 7 May of that year. Ottoman territorial claims were first addressed in the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) and finalised in the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). The Ottoman territories were allotted among the Allied Powers at the San Remo conference in 1920. The League of Nations decided the exact level of control by

455-464: The United Nations , subject to future discussions and formal agreements. Most of the remaining mandates of the League of Nations (with the exception of South West Africa ) thus eventually became United Nations trust territories . Two governing principles formed the core of the Mandate System, being non-annexation of the territory and its administration as a "sacred trust of civilisation" to develop

490-569: The protectorates in that the mandatory power undertook obligations to the inhabitants of the territory and to the League of Nations. The process of establishing the mandates consisted of two phases: The divestiture of Germany's overseas colonies, along with three territories disentangled from its European homeland area (the Free City of Danzig , the Memel Territory , and the Saar ), was accomplished in

525-589: The British mandate, Palestine and Transjordan have each an entirely separate organisation. We are, therefore, in the presence of three States sufficiently separate to be considered as distinct Parties. France has received a single mandate from the Council of the League of Nations, but in the countries subject to that mandate, one can distinguish two distinct States: Syria and the Lebanon, each State possessing its own constitution and

560-449: The League of Nations." Three steps were required to establish a Mandate under international law: (1) The Principal Allied and Associated Powers confer a mandate on one of their number or on a third power; (2) the principal powers officially notify the council of the League of Nations that a certain power has been appointed mandatory for such a certain defined territory; and (3) the council of the League of Nations takes official cognisance of

595-658: The Ottoman Empire that were deemed to "... have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognised subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory." The second group of mandates, or Class B mandates , were all former German colonies in West and Central Africa , referred to by Germany as Schutzgebiete (protectorates or territories), which were deemed to require

630-481: The PMC. According to historian Susan Pedersen , the organization was "very much an imperialists' club," as five out of nine initial members were retired colonial governors, ministers or high officials. By the mid-1920s, the Commission "began to resemble a spa for retired African governors." Even though it was composed of individuals from imperial and foreign policy establishments, the organization did act independently. This

665-536: The Portuguese Count Jose de Penha Garcia served for 11 years each. Upon joining the League of Nations in 1926, Germany immediately asked for a seat on the PMC but was initially rebuffed. The first German member of the PMC was Ludwig Kastl who joined the PMC in October 1927. Germany withdrew from the League in 1933, ending its membership of the PMC. Japan withdrew from the League in 1938, ending its membership on

700-556: The South Pacific islands, which became a "strategic trust territory" known as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under U.S. administration. The sole exception to the transformation of the League of Nations mandates into UN trusteeships was that of South Africa and its mandated territory South West Africa . Rather than placing South West Africa under trusteeship like other former mandates, South Africa proposed annexation ,

735-691: The United States opposed the French and British maneuvers. As a compromise, it was agreed that the former Ottoman and German colonial possessions would be administered as mandates by individual states whose administration would be subject to oversight by the PMC. These territories would ostensibly be governed for the benefit of the inhabitants. The Commission had 10 and later, 11 members (or twelve, if Sweden and Norway, which shared their seat, represented first by Anna Bugge-Wicksell and later by Valentine Dannevig , are counted separately). Four of these members were Mandatory Powers, 7 were independent powers and one seat

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770-528: The annual reports of the Mandatories and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates." Even though the PMC was composed of members from imperial and foreign policy establishments, the organization did act independently of states and established norms that constrained the behaviors of colonial powers. The PMC was the first instance that either France or Britain had been subjected to any kind of imperial oversight. The PMC played

805-466: The appointment of the mandatory power and informs the latter that it [the council] considers it as invested with the mandate, and at the same time notifies it of the terms of the mandate, after ascertaining whether they are in conformance with the provisions of the covenant." The U.S. State Department 's Digest of International Law says that the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne provided for the application of

840-545: The establishment of a mandates system. The mandates system reflected a compromise between Smuts (who wanted colonial powers to annex the territories) and Wilson (who wanted trusteeship over the territories). All of the territories subject to League of Nations mandates were previously controlled by states defeated in World War I, principally Imperial Germany and the Ottoman Empire . The mandates were fundamentally different from

875-405: The last to effectively gain its independence, on 1 October 1994. Legal status Legal status is the status or position held by an entity as determined by the law . It includes or entails a set of privileges , obligations , powers or restrictions that a person or thing has as encompassed in or declared by legislation . Jack Balkin has defined the term by writing, "In law, status

910-526: The laws of the Mandatory as integral portions of its territory." According to the Council of the League of Nations, meeting of August 1920: "draft mandates adopted by the Allied and Associated Powers would not be definitive until they had been considered and approved by the League... the legal title held by the mandatory Power must be a double one: one conferred by the Principal Powers and the other conferred by

945-465: The legal status and the portion of the annuities to be paid by the "A" mandates was settled when an Arbitrator ruled that some of the mandates contained more than one State: The difficulty arises here how one is to regard the Asiatic countries under the British and French mandates. Iraq is a Kingdom in regard to which Great Britain has undertaken responsibilities equivalent to those of a Mandatory Power. Under

980-614: The mandatory power over each mandate on an individual basis. However, in every case the mandatory power was forbidden to construct fortifications or raise an army within the territory of the mandate, and was required to present an annual report on the territory to the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. The mandates were divided into three distinct groups based upon the level of development each population had achieved at that time. The first group, or Class A mandates , were territories formerly controlled by

1015-401: The principles of state succession to the "A" Mandates. The Treaty of Versailles provisionally recognised the former Ottoman communities as independent nations. It also required Germany to recognise the disposition of the former Ottoman territories and to recognise the new states laid down within their boundaries. The terms of the Treaty of Lausanne required the newly created states that acquired

1050-576: The rights of petition and adjudication by the Permanent Court of International Justice . The mandate system was established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations , entered into force on 28 June 1919. With the dissolution of the League of Nations after World War II , it was stipulated at the Yalta Conference that the remaining mandates should be placed under the trusteeship of

1085-700: The territory detached from the Ottoman Empire to pay annuities on the Ottoman public debt and to assume responsibility for the administration of concessions that had been granted by the Ottomans. The treaty also let the States acquire, without payment, all the property and possessions of the Ottoman Empire situated within their territory. The treaty provided that the League of Nations was responsible for establishing an arbitral court to resolve disputes that might arise and stipulated that its decisions were final. A disagreement regarding

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1120-517: The territory for the benefit of its native people. According to historian Susan Pedersen , colonial administration in the mandates did not differ substantially from colonial administration elsewhere. Even though the Covenant of the League committed the great powers to govern the mandates differently, the main difference appeared to be that the colonial powers spoke differently about the mandates than their other colonial possessions. The mandate system

1155-656: Was established by Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, drafted by the victors of World War I. The article referred to territories which after the war were no longer ruled by their previous sovereign, but their peoples were not considered "able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world". The article called for such people's tutelage to be "entrusted to advanced nations who by reason of their resources, their experience or their geographical position can best undertake this responsibility". U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and South African General Jan Smuts played influential roles in pushing for

1190-551: Was held by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Members served without fixed term. William Rappard , Swiss lawyer and professor, served for the Commission's entire active life of 18 years as did Pierre Orts  [ fr ] , Italian Marquis Alberto Theodoli, first chairman, for 16 years, the Spaniard M. Palacios for 15 years, Lord Lugard and Van Rees for 13 each while Valentine Dannevig from Norway and

1225-470: Was in part because of the lack of term limits (which led to camaraderie among members and the development of expertise), the authority derived from written texts (which allowed the members to perform impartiality), and the publication of the organization's deliberations. She argues that the Commission was at its most influential in 1932. According to Pedersen, Commission members believed in a civilizing mission . The Commission met in sessions once or twice

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