Sector
Land & Territory.
Some of the most-asked ownership questions have no company at the end of them. Territories, waterways, the seabed and the commons are governed by treaties, autonomy statutes and licensing regimes rather than by share registers, and the answer is usually a set of separated rights rather than a single owner.
These reports read the founding instrument - the statute, the treaty, the land code - and separate sovereignty from jurisdiction from title, because in this sector those three things routinely sit with three different parties.
3 reports published in this sector.
- Land & TerritoryAugust 19, 202612 min read
Who Owns Greenland? Denmark Holds the Sovereignty, Greenland Holds the Subsoil, Nobody Owns the Land
Greenland is self-governing within the Kingdom of Denmark and has held authority over its own subsoil since 2010. Inside Greenland, private land ownership does not exist at all.
- Land & TerritoryAugust 19, 202611 min read
Who Owns the King Ranch? Sixty Family Shareholders, One Corporation, and a Trademark on a Ford
King Ranch, Inc. holds 825,000 acres for roughly sixty Kleberg and King descendants. Incorporating in 1934 is why the land never fragmented - and a 1933 oil lease is why it never had to be sold.
- Land & TerritoryAugust 25, 202611 min read
Who Owns the Hollywood Sign?
The City of Los Angeles owns the land, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce owns the trademark, and a separate charity maintains the steel. Three owners, three different assets - and sponsoring a letter in 1978 bought none of them.