ANNEXATION, a formal act of state (see ACT of STATE), whereby a state claims dominium or sovereignty over territory which is unoccupied by civilized people, or which is occupied by its own subjects, or over which it has established a protectorate, or which it has occupied by treaty, or which has been subjugated by its armed forces. Annexation alone is incapable of giving a good title. In the case of territories which are no part of the possessions of any civilized state, annexation must be accompanied by settlement. It matters not which comes first, but there must be some formal act of annexation. This is usually the hoisting of the national flag and the reading of a proclamation declaring the intention of the annexing state to take the territory in ques tion as its own. If subordinate authorities perform the act of annexation their proceedings are invalid until ratified by their supreme government. Thus when Queensland in 1883 annexed the greater part of New Guinea together with New Britain, New Ireland and other islands, Great Britain only ratified the annexa tion of a portion of the south-east of New Guinea, after which Germany annexed another portion and established a protectorate over New Britain and New Ireland. A protectorate has frequently been a first step to annexation. Thus France which hµd in 1885 acquired a protectorate of Madagascar by treaty, in 1896 annexed it as a colony of the republic. Thus in 1908 Austria formally annexed Bosnia and Hercegovina, which she had occupied by virtue of the Treaty of Berlin, 1878; and in 1914, on the outbreak of the war with Turkey, Great Britain annexed Cyprus, which she had administered under the suzerainty of the Sultan. The proclamations by Lord Roberts in 'goo of annexation of the Orange Free State and the South African republic were premature and invalid, since the war did not terminate for nearly two years. A good title was only acquired by the cession of these territories by the Boer generals by the Convention of Vereeniging, 1902. The surrender of territories by Germany and her allies in the peace treaties following the World War, although substantially annexation by conquest, was legally cession by agreement. Con sequently the title of the succession States is founded on cession. For the legal effects of annexation see STATE SUCCESSION.
See C. F. Randolph, Law and Policy of Annexation (1901) ; T. J. Lawrence, The Principles of International Law, 7th ed. 1923.
(H. H. L. B.)