uti possidetis
uti possidetis noun: the principle of a treaty which leaves belligerents mutually in possession of the acquisitions they have gained by force during the war.
Noun
uti possidetis
- The principle of a treaty which leaves belligerents mutually in possession of the acquisitions they have gained by force during the war.
- The peace of Breda, in 1667, confirmed the title in the conquerors by the rule of uti possidetis. In the succeeding Dutch war the colony was reconquered; but it was restored to the Duke of York upon the succeeding peace of 1674.1833, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States
- in 1206, the king did make an expedition to Poitou, and recovered some of its southern borders. Yet, with his usual inconsequence, he did not follow up his success, but made a two years’ truce with Philip of France on the basis of uti possidetis—which left Normandy and all the territories on and...1911, Encyclopædia Britannica
- A kind of interdict granted to one person who claimed possession of a land, in order that he be declared the legal possessor, and that the other party in the suit must not take the land by force.
Origin of uti possidetis
From the Latin phrase uti possidetis, ita possideatis, literally as you possess, so you shall possess.
Questions about uti possidetis
- What does uti possidetis mean?
- Uti possidetis means the principle of a treaty which leaves belligerents mutually in possession of the acquisitions they have gained by force during the war.
- What part of speech is uti possidetis?
- Uti possidetis is a noun.
Words near uti possidetis in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: uti possidetis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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