SUBJECTS OF PIL: STATES AND IOS
- An entity which possesses international rights and international obligations, having the capacity
to make international claims and being responsible if it breaches these claims by being subjected
to such claims: (1) capacity to make claims in respect of breaches of IL, (2) capacity to make
treaties and agreements on the international level, (3) privileges and immunity from national
jurisdiction
I) INTERNATIONAL JURIDICAL PERSONALITY
- There are certain qualifications so a state can enjoy the benefits of legal rights or have
obligations to perform certain legal duties. Entities meeting these qualifications have
international juridical personality.
- Collective nature of international juridical personality: to describe circumstances that make a
state legally responsible for certain acts or omissions. This means that from an IL perspective,
individuals will seldom have any personal responsibility, the claim will be filed against the state,
as the state is the subject of the law.
- International law does not make any specifications on the form of governments, or how states
should meet their obligations, as long as they meet them.
ACQUIRING INTERNATIONAL PERSONALITY
- Through recognition by an existing member of the international community
- Expressed recognition: formal declaration
- Implied recognition: by acts which imply an intention to grant recognition by signing a treaty, or
sending a diplomatic envoy
- De facto recognition: recognized in the opinion of the recognizing state although the new
authority (although independent and having power in its territory), is not stable enough. Its
participation in the international community is provisional and temporary
- De jure recognition: the recognized state fulfills the test laid down by the international law and
community
- CONDITIONS OF ACQUIRING AN INTL. PERSONALITY: (1) reasonable assurance of stability and
permanence, (2) the government should command the general support of the population, (3)
the government must be able and filling to fulfill its international obligations
MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY OF NATIONS
- what makes an entity a state be in the community of nations and have an international juridical
personality: territorial states. Although some intl. agencies have limited juridical personalities to
the treaties creating them, they are not fully ‘juristic persons’-as in they are not the primary
subjects of international law
- states are the primary subject of international law, state practice and actions form the essence of
the legal system
FULLY SOVOREIN AND INDEPENDENT STATES
- in international law, a state is an entity having a defined territory, a permanent population,
under the control of its own government (sovereign), that engages or can engage in formal
relations with other entities.
, - Recognition of a state by other states is an acknowledgement that this state can fulfill its
international duties, and that other states deal with it as an equal sovereign state.
- The possession of a territory, government, and a population does not make an entity a legal
subject. The decisive and final requirement (to be a subject of IL, not an obligation for
statehood), is recognition of its independence by states already in existence.
- Every country can decide for themselves if the facts are enough to grand another country
recognition. For example many Arab states do not recognize Israel as a state
- Failed states: this term has no legal significance. They still retain formal recognition as states, but
they lack an effective central government
RECOGNITION IN GENERAL
- Recognition is a formal acknowledgement or declaration by the government of an existing state
that it intents to attach customary legal duties and consequences to an existing entity
- In IL, recognition is the acknowledgement of the existence of a new state, or of a new
government in an existing state that has been brought through unconstitutional means
- If recognition was simply a matter of pure legal fact, national courts would be able to determine
the existence of a state or a new government brought by unconstitutional change through their
own means.
- If a state is admitted to the UN it does not mean that other UN members have granted or should
grant it recognition
- De facto: something is true and is happening (fact), but not necessarily according to official or
legal recognition
- De jure: something is true or recognized according to official or legal standards.
- the use of de facto in any statement concerning recognition indicates that the state
(government) extending recognition has some misgivings about either the long-term stability or
the nature (political acceptability) of the new government
- no difference exists between de facto and de jure with respect to international legal rights and
duties.
THE CONSEQUENCE OF RECOGNITION
- Recognition of a new government means that the recognizing government acknowledges the
stability of the new government and its willingness to honor its obligations. The recognizing
government acknowledges its willingness to enter into normal international interactions with
the new state (government).
- the actual date on which a state grants recognition may not be the effective date of recognition
- recognition also means that governments of the new state can now establish diplomatic
relations under the rules of international law with other states that have granted it recognition.
However, recognition does not mean that a state must set up a diplomatic mission in the
recognizing state. Diplomatic relations are a choice based on the level of interaction and level of
mutual interests
RECOGNITION OF GOVERNMENTS
- as long as the change in government is brought through constitutional means, states do not
need to acknowledge this change by a formal act of recognition.
- An entity which possesses international rights and international obligations, having the capacity
to make international claims and being responsible if it breaches these claims by being subjected
to such claims: (1) capacity to make claims in respect of breaches of IL, (2) capacity to make
treaties and agreements on the international level, (3) privileges and immunity from national
jurisdiction
I) INTERNATIONAL JURIDICAL PERSONALITY
- There are certain qualifications so a state can enjoy the benefits of legal rights or have
obligations to perform certain legal duties. Entities meeting these qualifications have
international juridical personality.
- Collective nature of international juridical personality: to describe circumstances that make a
state legally responsible for certain acts or omissions. This means that from an IL perspective,
individuals will seldom have any personal responsibility, the claim will be filed against the state,
as the state is the subject of the law.
- International law does not make any specifications on the form of governments, or how states
should meet their obligations, as long as they meet them.
ACQUIRING INTERNATIONAL PERSONALITY
- Through recognition by an existing member of the international community
- Expressed recognition: formal declaration
- Implied recognition: by acts which imply an intention to grant recognition by signing a treaty, or
sending a diplomatic envoy
- De facto recognition: recognized in the opinion of the recognizing state although the new
authority (although independent and having power in its territory), is not stable enough. Its
participation in the international community is provisional and temporary
- De jure recognition: the recognized state fulfills the test laid down by the international law and
community
- CONDITIONS OF ACQUIRING AN INTL. PERSONALITY: (1) reasonable assurance of stability and
permanence, (2) the government should command the general support of the population, (3)
the government must be able and filling to fulfill its international obligations
MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY OF NATIONS
- what makes an entity a state be in the community of nations and have an international juridical
personality: territorial states. Although some intl. agencies have limited juridical personalities to
the treaties creating them, they are not fully ‘juristic persons’-as in they are not the primary
subjects of international law
- states are the primary subject of international law, state practice and actions form the essence of
the legal system
FULLY SOVOREIN AND INDEPENDENT STATES
- in international law, a state is an entity having a defined territory, a permanent population,
under the control of its own government (sovereign), that engages or can engage in formal
relations with other entities.
, - Recognition of a state by other states is an acknowledgement that this state can fulfill its
international duties, and that other states deal with it as an equal sovereign state.
- The possession of a territory, government, and a population does not make an entity a legal
subject. The decisive and final requirement (to be a subject of IL, not an obligation for
statehood), is recognition of its independence by states already in existence.
- Every country can decide for themselves if the facts are enough to grand another country
recognition. For example many Arab states do not recognize Israel as a state
- Failed states: this term has no legal significance. They still retain formal recognition as states, but
they lack an effective central government
RECOGNITION IN GENERAL
- Recognition is a formal acknowledgement or declaration by the government of an existing state
that it intents to attach customary legal duties and consequences to an existing entity
- In IL, recognition is the acknowledgement of the existence of a new state, or of a new
government in an existing state that has been brought through unconstitutional means
- If recognition was simply a matter of pure legal fact, national courts would be able to determine
the existence of a state or a new government brought by unconstitutional change through their
own means.
- If a state is admitted to the UN it does not mean that other UN members have granted or should
grant it recognition
- De facto: something is true and is happening (fact), but not necessarily according to official or
legal recognition
- De jure: something is true or recognized according to official or legal standards.
- the use of de facto in any statement concerning recognition indicates that the state
(government) extending recognition has some misgivings about either the long-term stability or
the nature (political acceptability) of the new government
- no difference exists between de facto and de jure with respect to international legal rights and
duties.
THE CONSEQUENCE OF RECOGNITION
- Recognition of a new government means that the recognizing government acknowledges the
stability of the new government and its willingness to honor its obligations. The recognizing
government acknowledges its willingness to enter into normal international interactions with
the new state (government).
- the actual date on which a state grants recognition may not be the effective date of recognition
- recognition also means that governments of the new state can now establish diplomatic
relations under the rules of international law with other states that have granted it recognition.
However, recognition does not mean that a state must set up a diplomatic mission in the
recognizing state. Diplomatic relations are a choice based on the level of interaction and level of
mutual interests
RECOGNITION OF GOVERNMENTS
- as long as the change in government is brought through constitutional means, states do not
need to acknowledge this change by a formal act of recognition.
