Is it possible that if a person wanted to they could pay off all there debt, sell all their property, and move to a deserted island without incurring any penalty? If so, could you do anything you wanted on that island?
You may have a hard time finding an inhabitable but uninhabited and unclaimed island.
If you live in a “free” country you can sell anything of which you own the majority. If you want to leave the country and not come back, that’s fine, too. All you need is residency in the destination. I doubt that there is any land that is unclaimed on Earth, although you can go to Antarctica without a visa (if you’re a scientist) as it’s currently un-ownable.
If you buy a small island from some cash-strapped country (like Marlon Brando did) then you can live there however you want (probably - if you don’t break the laws of the country).
Are you sure about that? I thought all of Antarctica was claimed as territory by various nations. I know there are heavy restrictions on importing wildlife, potential disease risks etc. and penalties attached so presumably there is someone monitoring who goes there.
Well, there’s always the example of Sealand, set up successfully as a soveriegn nation on an abandoned oil rig/antiaircraft platform in the North Sea.
Cecil discusses Sealand and similar options in this column.
From what I’ve read, various countries claim parts of Antarctica, but the United States and Russia have official polcies that consider PenguinLand to be un-ownable. Basically, it amounts to “We don’t give a shit about your claims.”
Did any of you guys ever catch that episode of Ripleys Believe it or not that had a guy who basically recycled a bunch of garbage into a synthetic island and he even grew his own food on it and lived on it.
Not exactly. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 was signed or acceded to by 45 countries representing 2/3 of the world’s population. Regarding territorial claims, it bans new claims for sovereign territory, but it specifically states that it does not affect old claims to sovereignty:
Presumably territorial claims in Antarctica that predate the treaty could be argued in the world court or some body of the UN, or the old fashioned way, with gunboats.
There still is a section of Antarctica that has never been claimed.
International law traditionally only recognizes claims as legit if they have a continuous permenent population. Thus that rules out Antarctica. While a few “stations” are permenently manned, their populations are not permenent.