E-raamat: Notes on International Law

The modern conception of a state occupying a definite area of territory has gradually arisen out of the settlements made by the Teutonic tribes on the wreck of the Roman Empire. Scattered Teutonic tribes gathered into larger wholes, nations. They were migratory nations, and the idea of sovereignty was not connected with domain over any particular part of the earth's surface. Alaric was king of the Goths wherever they might be, on the banks of the Tagus, the Tiber, or the Danube. These conquering tribes were at first simply encamped on the wreck of the Roman Empire, but gradually, by what is called the process of feudalization the elec tive chiefs became hereditary lords of given areas of land. This idea did not become dominant, however, until after the breaking up of the Empire of Chdrles the Great, out of the fragments of which arose most of the modern states of Europe. The comple tion of the transition from personal to territorial sovereignty is marked by the accession of the Capetian Dynasty in France.