Acquired Rights

Acquired (or Vested) Rights

This term is used to connote private rights, acquired either

by nationals or by aliens, under the existing law of a given State which, according to traditional

international law, do not cease on a change of sovereignty, and in the event of State

succession must be respected by the successor State: German Settlers in Poland Case

(1923) P.C.I.J., Ser. B, No. 6 . In contemporary international law, the prevailing opinion

is that private rights, whether arising from concession, concessionary contract or other

sources, cannot be regarded as acquired rights: they are protected only to the extent to

which the new sovereign consents. However, private rights do not automatically fall with

the change of sovereign; and acquired rights are presumed to be as little affected as possible

by the change, absent specifi c measures to alter or rescind these rights: I Oppenheim 217

Thus, by virtue of the right to permanent sovereignty over natural wealth and resources,

the successor State may, for reasons of public utility, security, or the national interest,

cancel such rights provided that prompt, adequate, and effective compensation is paid

to the benefi ciary: Declarations on permanent sovereignty over Natural Resources of

14 December 1962 (General Assembly Res. 1803 (XVII)) and 6 December 1973 (General

Assembly Res. 3171 (XXVIII)). See generally O'Connell, State Succession in Municipal

Law and International Law ( 1967 ), Chaps. 6 and 10; Kaeckenbeeck, The Protection of

Vested Rights in International Law, (1950) 27 B.Y.I.L. 1 ; Rosenne, The Effect of Change of

Sovereignty upon Municipal Law, (1950) 27 B.Y.I.L. 267 . See also expropriation .[1]

The entry “acquired (or vested) rights” in the Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (currently, the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law, 2009), Oxford University Press