Succession
of states means the replacement of a state by another
in the respon- sibility for the international relations of a
particular territory. In the event of any territorial
change, the question arises as to whether the rights and obliga- tions
associated with that territory disappear or are transferred to the state to
which the territory has been transferred. Older international legal theories re- jected the possibility of succession of rights and obligations, which applied not only
to international responsibility but also to other matters
of succession. Mo- dern practice,
however, shows, that many of these theories
are now redundant due to a different practice. Nevertheless, significant
number of international law experts reject the possibility of succession to
international responsibility and justify this with a rule of the law of international responsibility that "every
internationally wrongful act of a State entails
the international responsibility of that State”. Since
the successor state is not that state within the meaning of the
rule, the law of international responsibility appears to place an impenetrable
wall in front of the possibility of the successor
state succeeding to international
responsibility. Based on the basic principles of the law of international respon- sibility and the law of succession of states, the article demonstrates that the law of international responsibility allows
for the possibility for the successor State to
be responsible for illegal acts committed before
the date of the succession.
Keywords:
State succession,
international responsibility, succession of international responsibility,
predecessor State, successor State.