Cite as: 523 U. S. 767 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
"show by a preponderance of the evidence . . . a long and continuous possession of, and assertion of sovereignty over," the filled portions of the Island, as well as New Jersey's acquiescence in those acts of possession and jurisdiction. Illinois v. Kentucky, supra, at 384. Because acquiescence presupposes knowledge, New York is bound to present either direct evidence that New Jersey had knowledge that New York acted upon a claim to the added land, or evidence of such open, notorious, visible, and uninterrupted adverse acts that New Jersey's knowledge and acquiescence may be presumed. See Georgia v. South Carolina, supra, at 393 (stating that it is well established " 'that open and notorious adverse possession is evidence of notice; not of the adverse holding only, but of the title under which the possession is held' ") (quoting Landes v. Brant, 10 How. 348, 375 (1851)); Arkansas v. Tennessee, supra, at 570 (noting that sovereign rights to land can be won and lost by "open, long-continued and uninterrupted possession of territory"); Michigan v. Wisconsin, 270 U. S. 295, 307-308 (1926) (rejecting Michigan's claim of "excusable ignorance" on the ground that "[t]he material facts . . . have been so obvious that knowledge of them on the part of the Michigan authorities, if it were not shown, as it is shown, by the evidence, must necessarily be assumed"); Louisiana v. Mississippi, supra, at 53 (noting that "Louisiana has always asserted [ownership of the disputed area]; and that Mississippi has repeatedly recognized it, and not until recently has disputed it"); MacGibon, The Scope of Acquiescence in International Law, in 31 Brit. Y. B. Int'l L. 143, 173 (H. Lauterpacht ed. 1954) ("The proposition that the possession on which title by prescription rests must fulfil [sic] the requirement of notoriety is scarcely in doubt").
It is essential to appreciate the extent of this burden that a claimant by prescription must shoulder. Even as to terra nullius, like a volcanic island or territory abandoned by its former sovereign, a claimant by right as against all others has more to do than planting a flag or rearing a monument.
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