statu quo

CONT: ""Uti possidetis"" and ""status quo"". These two phrases often amount to the same thing, and are used to denote actual possession by right of conquest, occupation or otherwise, at some particular moment, which has to be defined with as much exactness as possible in the proposals for a treaty of peace, or in the treaty itself. But while ""uti possidetis"" relates to the possession of territory, the ""status quo"" may be the previously existing situation in regard to other matters ...