uti possidetis

English

Etymology

Latin [Term?] (literally “as you possess”).

Noun

uti possidetis

1. (law) The principle of a treaty which leaves belligerents mutually in possession of what they have acquired by force during the war.

   Antonym: status quo ante bellum

2. (law, historical, Ancient Rome) A species of interdict granted to one who was in possession of an immovable thing, in order that he might be declared the legal possessor.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “uti possidetis”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)