People are said to own land when they purchase it from the previous owner, but if you follow the chain of ownership back far enough, there must have been a point where there was no previous owner and someone simply claimed that land by force (or threat of force). This means that all subsequent "owners" are "handling stolen goods". How is this situation resolved legally? Is it by use of the "statute of limitations" or was there some government decree saying "never mind previous thefts, all is forgiven" or something else?... or is is just unresolved?
I'm most interested in the case of the UK, but answers for any country would be interesting.