Thailand–Cambodia, Borders & the Colonial Legacy
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Summary
The origin is the colonial period, when Siam under French pressure gave up territory to preserve its independence.
The decisive problem was that Thailand never objected to a map on which France had drawn the line incorrectly.
The court reasoned that fifty years of silence amounted to tacit acceptance.
Key points
Failing to object has legal effect
In international law silence is an act, and that is the most expensive lesson of the case.
The map outweighed the treaty text
Once both sides had used it for decades, the court treated practice as weightier than the original wording.
Fifty years is too long to undo
The more time passes, the weaker the claim never to have accepted it becomes.
The lesson applies to live disputes
Object immediately to every assertion of claim, however minor it looks.