Page 241 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

IRAN’S CLAIM TO BAHRAIN 179
This clearly indicates that title by conquest may well be lost as a
result of another conquest by another State which is able to retain the
territory as against the former conqueror.
Conquest alone [says Oppenheim] does not ipso facto make the conquer­
ing State the sovereign of the conquered territory, although such territory
comes through conquest for the time under the sway of the conqueror.
Conquest is only a mode of acquisition if the conqueror, after having
firmly established the conquest, formally annexes the territory.1
It flows from the above principles that whoever succeeds in sub­
jugating the territory originally acquired by conquest can, if he
annexes the territory and establishes an effective State authority,
assume a better title to the territory than his defeated adversary.
It may be argued that even if Persia acquired a legal title to Bahrain
on the ground of conquest she, nevertheless, was not able to maintain
that title and hold it to the exclusion of others. Thus, by her expulsion
from Bahrain in 1783, she lost her title for ever. In his reply of 18
February 1929 the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Austen Chamberlain,
challenged the Persian right over Bahrain on the ground of conquest
by stating:
... it would still be necessary for Persia to prove that she is, or ever has
been, the lawful owner of Bahrain, and that such rights as she may have
acquired in former ages by conquest and the exercise of force outweigh
those not only of the Portuguese but of the Arab inhabitants themselves.2
As to (2), the grounds on which Persia may have lost her title to
Bahrain are: (a) conquest by a foreign State, (b) assertion of inde­
pendence by Bahrain, (c) prescription.3
(a) Conquest by a foreign State: There is no dispute among writers
that conquest by a foreign State also operates as a mode of losing
territory. Thus if the conquering State takes possession of the territory

1 Oppenheim, pp. 566-7.
2 L.N.O.7., May 1929, op. cit., p. 791. Toynbee confirms the fact that the
Persians acquired Bahrain by the right of conquest, but that they lost this right
to the present rulers of the island, who conquered it from them in 1783. See
Toynbee, A., ‘The Dispute between Persia and Great Britain over Bahrayn (1927—
1934)’, Survey of International Affairs (1934), p. 222. However, he, like other
authorities, refers to the date of the Persian occupation of Bahrain, as from 1622
to 1783. The right date of the Persian conquest of Bahrain from the Portuguese is
1602, as explained above, p. 167.
3 There are five modes of loss of title to territory, corresponding to the above five
modes of acquiring title to territory. These five modes of losing territory are:
cession, dereliction, operation of nature, subjugation (conquest) and prescription.
To these is also added a sixth mode, namely, revolt or independence. See Oppen­
heim, pp. 578-81; Hyde, 1, pp. 117-19.
Since not all of these modes are applicable to this discussion, an examination
will be made of the above-mentioned modes only.