Again:
"May any one be hindered in the act of taking possession, so that
neither one nor other of two competitors shall acquire the right of
priority, and the soil in consequence may remain for all time free
as belonging to no one?" Not at all. Such a hindrance cannot be
allowed to take place, because the second of the two, in order to be
enabled to do this, would himself have to be upon some neighbouring
soil, where he also, in this manner, could be hindered from being, and
such absolute hindering would involve a contradiction. It would,
however, be quite consistent with the right of occupation, in the case
of a certain intervening piece of the soil, to let it lie unused as
a neutral ground for the separation of two neighbouring states; but
under such a condition, that ground would actually belong to them both
in common, and would not be without an owner (res nullius), just
because it would be used by both in order to form a separation between
them. Again: "May one have a thing as his, on a soil of which no one
has appropriated any part as his own?" Yes. In Mongolia, for
example, any one may let lie whatever baggage he has, or bring back
the horse that has run away from him into his possession as his own,
because the whole soil belongs to the people generally, and the use of
it accordingly belongs to every individual.
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