Lassa Oppenheim

The Panama Canal Conflict between Great Britain and the United States of America Lassa Oppenheim

Book Excerpt: ...hange of the territorial sovereignty or of the international relations of the country or countries traversed by the future Canal should affect the general principle of the neutralisation or the obligation of the parties under the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. Fifthly, when, in 1903, the United States by the Hay-Varilla Treaty, acquired from the Republic of Panama the strip of territory necessary for the construction, administration, and protection of the Canal, she acquired sovereign rights over this territory and the future Canal subject to the antecedent restrictions imposed upon her by the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, for Article IV of the latter stipulates expressly that no change of territorial sovereignty over the territory concerned shall affect the neutralisation or obligation of the parties under the treaty. These are the unshakable historical facts. The United States did not first become the sovereign of the Canal territory and make the Canal, and afterwards...