What determines who owns is who paid for it from the previous owner.
Achmed owns a parcel of land. All good. Issac buys it from Achmed then Issac owns it. Why is this so hard for the pallies to understand?
Really? I think I understand what I think you are trying to say in this particular instance, but it avoids the question
Native Americans and the colonists and later law suits and claims
Germany, Poland, France and empires like the Austria-Hungary or Spanish empires -- they owned or claimed land and then... poof!