Territorial disputes, unlawful territorial situations and state responsibility

The article examines a broad range of litigation in the field of territorial disputes, with a special emphasis on claims of state responsibility for unlawful occupation of territories. The main thesis presented is that it is possible to apply the general framework of state responsibility, despite the ICJ's reluctance to do so. The threshold of state responsibility is generally set at a high level of malicious conduct envisaged for serious violations of peremptory norms, but there appears to be no reason why the threshold should not be lowered to include other cases of faulty or negligent conduct leading to an adverse occupation. The article finally submits that the regime applying below the threshold of state responsibility should be charachterised as one of strict liability for acts not prohibited by international law.