condominium
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condominium
PoliticsCondominium
Condominium
according to states’ law, a joint ownership, that is, joint sovereignty over a territory by two or more states. Historically, the condominium was established to eliminate conflicts between states laying claim to one and the same territory. For instance, according to an act of the Congress of Vienna of 1814–15 and of a special treaty in 1816, a condominium was established over Moresnet, since Prussia and Belgium could not agree on the frontier of this borderland between them. Andorra and several islands in the Bidassoa River are condominiums of France and Spain. A condominium may also be established over expanses of water (for example, the condominium over the Gulf of Fonseca and the Gulf of San Juan).
A condominium should be distinguished from a coimperium —a joint rule over an alien territory (for example, the joint rule of Great Britain, France, and Spain over Tangier in the 20th century).