Colonies and Mandates

doi:10.1017/9781108633963.010

8 - Colonies and Mandates

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2025

Giovanni Distefano and

Aymeric Hêche

General editor

Randall Lesaffer

Edited by

Robert Kolb and

Momchil Milanov

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Randall Lesaffer: Affiliation:
KU Leuven and Tilburg University
Robert Kolb: Affiliation:
Université de Genève
Momchil Milanov: Affiliation:
International Court of Justice

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Summary

Colonies and mandates, along with protectorates, belong to the wider group of ‘dependent’ territories. Colonies were under the total control of a foreign power which decided all aspects of the administrative, executive and legislative organisation. Public international law was mainly relevant for slavery, forced labour and ‘open-door’ policies. The mandates system was certainly inspired by colonialism, especially in the eyes of contemporaries, for whom colonialism was the ‘white man’s burden’ for the benefit of ‘uncivilised peoples’. However, it also had fundamental structural differences: their purpose – the ‘civilising mission’ – and the triangular relationship (League of Nations, territory, mandate), stand in sharp contrast to the colonial institution. In addition, the mandatory power was not the holder of sovereignty over the mandated territory. The triangular relationship refers particularly to the control that is supposed to embody it. The control exercised by the League marks a notable difference from the colonial system, establishing for the first time in the history of international relations a sophisticated form of indirect international administration of territories.

Keywords

protectorates colonies mandates colonialism territory standard of civilisation sovereignty Permanent Mandates Commission

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of International Law , pp. 224 - 256

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108633963.010 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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