Currently the country is for sale by the English property Inmonaranja, due to advanced age and health status of its owner, King, Paddy Roy Bates.
In 1942, during World War II, the United Kingdom HM Fort Roughs built as part of the Maunsell Sea Forts. The fort is composed of a floating platform equipped with a superstructure of two towers joined by a deck upon which other structures could be added.
The platform was towed to Rough Sands, a sandbar located approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk and eight miles off the coast of Essex, England, where he intentionally flooded the hull to fix its position on bottom of the sandbar. The structure is now visible corresponds to the superstructure of the ship. The location chosen was in international waters beyond three miles of territorial waters claimed by the United Kingdom at that time.
installation (known as Roughs Tower) was occupied by between 150 and 300 people from the Royal Navy during the Second World War was not until 1956 when the last staff was evacuated and the abandoned tower.
On September 2, 1967 the fort was occupied by Major Paddy Roy Bates, a British pirate radio presenter, who ejected a competing group of radiopiratas and claimed sovereignty based on their personal interpretation of international law.
In 1968, Roy's son, Michael Bates, was put on trial as a result of an incident during which they opened fire on a British naval vessel in the vicinity of Sealand. According to some reports, the ship's crew tried to evict the Bates of the fort, while otros argumentan que sólo estaban realizando trabajos de reparación en una boya de navegación cercana. El 25 de noviembre de 1968 la corte, con sede en Chelmsford, Essex, declaró que debido a que el incidente ocurrió fuera de las aguas territoriales británicas, la corte no tenía jurisdicción sobre el caso. Bates ha citado este caso como evidencia de soberanía de facto.
En 1978, mientras Bates se encontraba fuera, el "primer ministro" de Sealand, Alexander G. Achenbach, junto con varios ciudadanos alemanes y holandeses, tomaron por la fuerza la torre manteniendo a Michael Bates cautivo, para liberarlo varios días después en los Países Bajos.
Bates preparó asistencia armada and using a helicopter assault, retook the fortress. He then held the invaders captive, claiming them as prisoners of war. Most participants in the invasion were repatriated at the cessation of the "war", but Gernot Pütz, a German lawyer who held a Sealand passport, was charged with treason against Sealand and was held unless he paid DM 75,000. The governments of the Netherlands and Germany petitioned the British government release, but he disavowed all responsibility, citing the court decision of 1968. Germany then sent a diplomat from its London embassy to Roughs Tower to negotiate the release of Pütz. After several weeks and subsequently gave Roy Bates claimed that the diplomat's visit constituted de facto recognition of Sealand by Germany (Germany has not confirmed this interpretation.)
After his repatriation, Achenbach established in Germany a "government in exile" in opposition to Roy Bates, assuming the title of "Chairman of the Privy Council." In his resignation for health reasons in August 1989, the "minister for economic cooperation" of the rebel government, Johannes Seiger, assumed control under the title of prime minister, "Chairman of the Privy Council." Seiger continues to claim to be the legitimate authority of Sealand.
Sealand claims as its territory the waters around the tower in an area of \u200b\u200b12 nautical miles and has claimed to have physically defended her claim at least once. In one incident in 1990 where he was shot from Sealand to Golden Eye, an auxiliary vessel of the Royal Navy.
For a time a English group allegedly linked to the Government in exile Seiger, manufactured and sold Sealand passports, which achieved a wide distribution (especially in Eastern Europe). These passports, which were not authorized by the Bates family, were involved in various crimes of levels, including the murder of Gianni Versace. Due to the large quantity of illegal passports circulation (estimated at 150,000), in 1997 the Bates family revoked all Sealand passports, including that they had issued in the last 30 years.
In 1968 the UK joined Sands the Roughs area to British territorial waters. Between 1990-1991 the United Kingdom presented to an Administrative Court of the United States evidence that any "Principality of Sealand" independent had ever existed. This case was never appealed by the Bates family.
is believed that all members of the "royal family" retain their British citizenship. Since 1999 none of them have established permanent residence in Roughs Tower, which is currently occupied by one or more managers on behalf of Michael Bates, which, in turn, live in Leigh on Sea, England. As Sealand is a country not recognized, the Bates family travel internationally with the passport that certifies them as British citizens.
The platform was towed to Rough Sands, a sandbar located approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk and eight miles off the coast of Essex, England, where he intentionally flooded the hull to fix its position on bottom of the sandbar. The structure is now visible corresponds to the superstructure of the ship. The location chosen was in international waters beyond three miles of territorial waters claimed by the United Kingdom at that time.
installation (known as Roughs Tower) was occupied by between 150 and 300 people from the Royal Navy during the Second World War was not until 1956 when the last staff was evacuated and the abandoned tower.
On September 2, 1967 the fort was occupied by Major Paddy Roy Bates, a British pirate radio presenter, who ejected a competing group of radiopiratas and claimed sovereignty based on their personal interpretation of international law.
In 1968, Roy's son, Michael Bates, was put on trial as a result of an incident during which they opened fire on a British naval vessel in the vicinity of Sealand. According to some reports, the ship's crew tried to evict the Bates of the fort, while otros argumentan que sólo estaban realizando trabajos de reparación en una boya de navegación cercana. El 25 de noviembre de 1968 la corte, con sede en Chelmsford, Essex, declaró que debido a que el incidente ocurrió fuera de las aguas territoriales británicas, la corte no tenía jurisdicción sobre el caso. Bates ha citado este caso como evidencia de soberanía de facto.
En 1978, mientras Bates se encontraba fuera, el "primer ministro" de Sealand, Alexander G. Achenbach, junto con varios ciudadanos alemanes y holandeses, tomaron por la fuerza la torre manteniendo a Michael Bates cautivo, para liberarlo varios días después en los Países Bajos.
Bates preparó asistencia armada and using a helicopter assault, retook the fortress. He then held the invaders captive, claiming them as prisoners of war. Most participants in the invasion were repatriated at the cessation of the "war", but Gernot Pütz, a German lawyer who held a Sealand passport, was charged with treason against Sealand and was held unless he paid DM 75,000. The governments of the Netherlands and Germany petitioned the British government release, but he disavowed all responsibility, citing the court decision of 1968. Germany then sent a diplomat from its London embassy to Roughs Tower to negotiate the release of Pütz. After several weeks and subsequently gave Roy Bates claimed that the diplomat's visit constituted de facto recognition of Sealand by Germany (Germany has not confirmed this interpretation.)
After his repatriation, Achenbach established in Germany a "government in exile" in opposition to Roy Bates, assuming the title of "Chairman of the Privy Council." In his resignation for health reasons in August 1989, the "minister for economic cooperation" of the rebel government, Johannes Seiger, assumed control under the title of prime minister, "Chairman of the Privy Council." Seiger continues to claim to be the legitimate authority of Sealand.
Sealand claims as its territory the waters around the tower in an area of \u200b\u200b12 nautical miles and has claimed to have physically defended her claim at least once. In one incident in 1990 where he was shot from Sealand to Golden Eye, an auxiliary vessel of the Royal Navy.
For a time a English group allegedly linked to the Government in exile Seiger, manufactured and sold Sealand passports, which achieved a wide distribution (especially in Eastern Europe). These passports, which were not authorized by the Bates family, were involved in various crimes of levels, including the murder of Gianni Versace. Due to the large quantity of illegal passports circulation (estimated at 150,000), in 1997 the Bates family revoked all Sealand passports, including that they had issued in the last 30 years.
In 1968 the UK joined Sands the Roughs area to British territorial waters. Between 1990-1991 the United Kingdom presented to an Administrative Court of the United States evidence that any "Principality of Sealand" independent had ever existed. This case was never appealed by the Bates family.
is believed that all members of the "royal family" retain their British citizenship. Since 1999 none of them have established permanent residence in Roughs Tower, which is currently occupied by one or more managers on behalf of Michael Bates, which, in turn, live in Leigh on Sea, England. As Sealand is a country not recognized, the Bates family travel internationally with the passport that certifies them as British citizens.
In June 2006 a fire due to the explosion of a generator. The damage is serious, but the structure remained safe. For a few weeks after the fire was prohibited entry of foreign vessels to a diameter of one nautical mile at the principality, and landing of helicopters. Sealand, despite its small size of 550 m², has its Official athlete, an amateur soccer team and minigolf team.
The proclamation of Sealand as an independent territory is based on two arguments:
When Paddy Roy Bates and his associates occupied Roughs Tower in 1967, it was in international waters outside the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom or any other sovereign state . Based on this Sealand declared de jure legitimacy.
The interaction between the British government is de facto recognition of Sealand. Based on this, Sealand claims de facto legitimacy.
In international law, the two schools of thought on what constitutes a state are represented by the theories constitution and declaration of statehood. The constitutive theory was the standard model used in the nineteenth century, while the declaratory theory was developed in the twentieth century to compensate for some omissions of the charter. In the constitutive theory a state exists only for the recognition of other states. The theory is not clear if this means "diplomatic recognition" or merely "recognition of their existence." While no state has granted Sealand diplomatic recognition, Bates insists that the negotiations conducted by Germany are "recognition of existence." In the declaratory theory, every entity becomes a state as soon and meets all requerimento to be considered as such. The recognition of other states is merely "declaratory."
Under international law, the criteria for what constitutes a state are defined by the Montevideo Convention. It states that a defined territory, permanent population, a government, and the ability to interact with other sovereign states are the only requirements to establish a sovereign state. None of these requirements must be attached to any standard or defined size, but their general characteristics should be taken into account.
Similar criteria can be found in the Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee of the European Union. The committee concluded that a state was defined as having a territory, a population and political authority. The committee also concluded that the existence and disappearance of States is a matter of fact, while the recognition of other states is merely declaratory.
After the British court decision in 1968, the United Kingdom extended its territorial waters to twelve nautical miles (22 km), action it was entitled under international standards since 1958 (although the necessary legislation was not passed until 1987 .) That and other subsequent laws have to do with construction and legal status of islands artificial. However, as Roughs Tower is actually a sunken ship, some say it can not be governed by such laws.
According to the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea, 1982, there is no transitional law and no possibility of accepting the existence of a previously approved construction or constructed by a neighboring state. This may mean that it is no longer possible to construct artificial islands and then declare their sovereignty in order to extend an exclusive economic zone or territorial waters claim. But, being a boat sunk Roughs Tower and not an artificial island, would require the Department of the Crown of His Majesty (Who are the legitimate owners of land under the tower), acting as owner complainant to withdraw the collapse of his property. If Sealand is a sunken ship and not an artificial island, then can not make any claim to sovereignty, as a boat can not be regarded as territory "permanent" one of the requirements for establishing a state.
Even when the British Government has publicly declared his authority on Roughs Tower, appears to be government policy to avoid any action or comment unless forced. British government documents now available to the public after expiration of their thirty years of secrecy, muestran que hubo planes para retomar la torre por la fuerza, pero no fueron aprobados por el primer ministro en funciones debido al potencial de pérdida de vidas y la creación de un desastre legal y de relaciones públicas.
En 1990-1991, el Gobierno británico presentó evidencias ante una Corte administrativa de los EE. UU. de que no existe y jamás ha existido ningún Estado independiente con el nombre de Sealand. El 6 de diciembre de 2005, el diario británico The Times publicó una nota afirmando que el Gobierno y las Cortes británicas finalmente habían admitido que Sealand "está fuera del territorio nacional británico [...] y no forma parte del Reino Unido", aunque el diario no dio más detalles and there has been no confirmation from other sources.
Sealand has declared its currency circulating the "Sealand Dollar", and has set a target value of U.S. dollar peg, but since it is a recognized state has no real value than can generate the collecting or curiosity, because it serves to make any commercial exchange. Several dozen coins have been minted since 1972 in various units of the currency. Given Sealand's limited population, physical inaccessibility to its territory, and the lack of a real economy, it is unlikely that these coins have been minted for use in a current. Most were minted in precious metals, aroused the interest of some investors and coin collectors. In the early 90's, the German group also produced a coin Achenbach, in which appeared the image of Prime Minister Seiger.
Sealand is not recognized by the International Postal Union, so it does not issue its own stamps, valid internationally.
Inmonaranja, real estate transfer charge of Sealand, Post of Spain took advantage of the opportunity offered to companies and individuals to customize their seals, to order a roll of stamps commemorating the launch of the transfer operation by the Principality of Sealand part of the English property. The circulation of these stamps has been, although he was charged with propaganda purposes, reduced. Only a small amount was put into service and they are to all intents and purposes, as it is of stamps issued by Spain, universally recognized and valid for postal use internationally.
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