Discovery doctrine

Common card · No. 260793

The discovery doctrine, or doctrine of discovery, is a disputed interpretation of international law during the Age of Discovery, introduced into United States municipal law by the US Supreme Court justice John Marshall in Johnson v. McIntosh (1823). In Marshall's formulation of the doctrine, discovery of territory previously unknown to Europeans gave the discovering nation title to that territory against all other European nations, and this title could be perfected by possession. A number of legal scholars have criticized Marshall's interpretation of the relevant international law as being a colonial-era ideology. In recent decades, advocates for Indigenous rights have campaigned against the doctrine, which purportedly stemmed from some Papal bulls. In 2023, the Roman Curia of the Vatican formally repudiated the doctrine.

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