Original scientific paper
The legal situation of the wreck of the ironclad ''Re d'Italia'' sunk in the 1866 battle of Vis (Lissa)
Vladimir Đuro Degan
orcid.org/0000-0001-6884-1189
; Jadranski zavod HAZU
Abstract
There is an allegation that wrecks of warships remain the property of the flag State wherever located and notwithstanding the passage of time since their sinking, unless expressly abandoned by the flag State. In this light the author discusses the situation of the wrecks of ironclads “Re d’Italia” and Palestro sunk by the Austrian Navy in the
1866 Naval Battle near the island of Vis which is now the territory of Croatia. Upon sinking these wrecks became the property of Austria as its booty in that war. By way of succession of States they are now the property of the Republic of Croatia. Therefore Italy as the former flag State has no entitlement to these wrecks. Besides, both Croatia
and Italy are actually parties to the 2001 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. On behalf of its Article 12 Croatia has the exclusive right to regulate and authorize activities on these two wrecks, because they are situated
on the bottom of its territorial sea.
Keywords
warships; sovereign immunity; wrecks - owneship; booty of war; inter-temporal law; underwater cultural heritage; states with a verifiable link
Hrčak ID:
97326
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2012.
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