Pedra Branca or Pulau Batu Puteh is an outcrop of rocks situated where the Singapore Strait meets the South China Sea. The Horsburgh Lighthouse on the island was built in 1851. The island, together with nearby islands Middle Rocks and South Ledge, is currently the subject of a territorial dispute between Singapore and Malaysia that is being determined by the International Court of Justice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedra_Branca%2C_South_China_Sea
In common law, adverse possession is the process by which title to another’s real property is acquired without compensation, by, as the name suggests, holding the property in a manner that conflicts with the true owner‘s rights for a specified period of time. Circumstances of the adverse possession determine the type of title acquired by the disseisor, which may be fee simple title, mineral rights, or another interest in real property.
The law of adverse possession is partly statutory and partly common law. The required period of uninterrupted possession arises out of a statutory limitation period or statute of limitations. Other elements of adverse possession are judicial constructs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession
ICJ’s Press Releases:
http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=3&code=masi&case=130&k=2b
ICJ will deliver its Judgment on Friday 23 May 2008 at 10 a.m.
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Singapore has won the case! Pedra Branca is still ours!
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/23/europe/EU-GEN-World-Court-Singapore-Malaysia.php
