Condominium (international law) - Definition and Overview

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

• 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.

See also

• Condominium, a form of housing tenure
• Protectorate
• Suzerainty
• Dependent area