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Sovereignty

is the supreme, uncontrollable power inherent in a state by which that state is governed.
The supreme power of the State to command and enforce obedience, the power to which,
legally speaking, all interests are practically subject and all wills subordinate.
In International Law, it is this attribute that enables the state to make its own decision vis-a-vis
other states and vests it with competence to enter into relations and agreements with them.

Two aspects of sovereignty

1. Internal- refers to the power of the state to direct its domestic affairs, as when it
establishes its government, enact laws for observance within its territory, or adopts
economic policies.
2. External- signifies the freedom of the state to control its own foreign affairs. More often
referred to as independence.
Intervention
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An act by which a state interferes with the domestic and foreign affairs of another state or
states through employment of force or threat of force.

When intervention may be allowed

a) Act of self-defense
b) Decreed by Security Council as a prevention or enforcement action for the
maintenance of international peace and security.
c) If agreed by a treaty
d) If requested to sister states or UN by the parties or beset by rebellion.
e) If based on humanitarian grounds.
Drago doctrine
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Embodied in Hague Convention of 1907 contracting powers agree not to have recourse to
armed force for the recovery of contract debts claimed from the government of one country by
the government of another country as being due to its nationals.

Porter resolution
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Intervention was permitted if the debtor state refused an offer to arbitrate the creditors claim,
or having agreed to arbitrate, prevented agreement on the compromise, or having agreed
thereto, refused to abide by the award of the arbitrator.

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Principle of equality
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Is that all the rights of a state, regardless of their number, must be observed and respected by
the international community in the same manner that the rights of other states are observed
and respected. In short all states big or small, the powerful as well as the weak, have an equal
right to the enjoyment of all their respective attributes as members of the family of nations.

Par in parem non habet imperium

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An equal has no power over an equal

Discovery and occupation

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Is an original mode of acquisition by which territory not belonging to any state, or terra nullius,
is placed under the sovereignty of the discovering state.

Requisites for a valid occupation and discovery

1. Possession
2. Administration

Inchoate title of discovery

-

Performs the function of barring other states from entering the territory until the lapse of a
reasonable period within which the discovering state may establish a settlement thereon and
commence to administer it.

Treaty on the exploration and use of outer space

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Outer space, including the moon and the other celestial bodies, is not subject to national
appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.

Dereliction
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When the state exercising sovereignty over it physically withdraws from it with intention of
abandoning it altogether.

Two conditions of dereliction

1. Act of withdrawal
2. Intention to abandon

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Prescription
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Habiting a territory for a long period of time.

Requires long, continued and adverse possession to vest acquisitive title in the claimant.

Cession
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Territory is transferred from one state to another by agreement between them.

Merely consensual.

Subjugation
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When having been previously conquered or occupied in the course of war by the enemy, it is
formally annexed to it at the end of that war.

Accretion
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Acquiring the territory by the principle of accessio cedat principali.

Components of territory
A. Terrestrial domain
Refers to land mass, may be integrated or dismembered.
B. Maritime and fluvial domain
Consists of the bodies of water within the land mass and the waters adjacent to the coasts of
the state up to a specified limit.
I.
Riversi.
National rivers- are those situated completely in the territory of one state.
ii.
Multi-national rivers- that flow through the territories of several states.
iii.
International river- navigable from the open sea and is open to the use of all
vessels from all states.
iv.
Boundary river- divides the territories of the riparian state.
II.
Bays- is a well-marked indentation whose penetration is in such proportion to the width
of its mouth as to contain land-locked waters and constitute more than a mere
curvature of the coast.
III.
Territorial sea- as the belt of waters adjacent to the coasts of the state, excluding the
internal waters in bays and gulfs, over which the state claims sovereignty and
jurisdiction.
Methods of defining territorial sea.

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i.

ii.

Normal baseline method- the territorial sea is simply drawn from the low- water mark of
the coast, to the breadth claimed, following its sinuosities and curvatures but excluding
the internal waters in bays and gulfs.
Straight baseline method- straight lines are made to connect appropriate ppoints on the
coast without departing radically from its general direction.

C. Aerial domain
Airspace above the terrestrial domain and the maritime and fluvial domain of the state, to an
unlimited altitude but not including outer space.

Jurisdiction
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Is the authority exercised by the state over persons and things within or sometimes outside its
territory, subject to certain exceptions.
May be exercised by the state over its:
a) Nationals
b) Terrestrial domain
c) Maritime and fluvial domain
d) Continental shelf
e) The open seas
f) Aerial domain
g) Outer space
h) Other territories

Personal jurisdiction
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Is the power exercised by the state to its nationals.

Nemo potest exuere patriam (doctrine of indelible allegiance) an individual may be
compelled to retain his original nationality even if he has already renounce or forfeited it
under the laws of the second whose nationality he has acquire.

Territorial jurisdiction
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Jurisdiction is asserted by the state over persons and property within its immediate control and
subject to its coercive processes.
Jurisdiction cannot be exercised even in its territory over:
a) Foreign states, head of states, diplomatic representatives, and consuls to a certain
degree.
b) Foreign state property, including embassies, consulates, and public vessels engaged in
non-commercial activities.
c) Act s of state- every sovereign state is bound to respect the independence of every
other sovereign state, and the courts of one country will not sit in judgment on the
acts of the government of another, done within its own territory.

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d) Foreign merchant vessels exercising the rights of innocent passage or arrival under
stress.
e) Foreign armies passing through or stationed in territories with its permission.
f) Such other persons or property, including organizations like the United Nations, over
which it may, by agreement, waive jurisdiction.

Innocent passage
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Navigation through the territorial sea of a state for the purpose of traversing that sea without
entering internal waters, or of proceeding to internal waters, or making for the high seas from
internal waters, as long as it not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal
state.

Arrival under stress

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May be due to lack of provisions, unseaworthiness of the vessel, inclement weather, or other
cases of force majeure, like pursuit by pirates.

Land jurisdiction
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Everything found within the terrestrial domain of the state is under its jurisdiction. Local state
has the exclusive title to all property within its territory.

Continental shelf
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The seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas adjacent to the coast but outside the area of the
territorial sea, to a depth of two hundred meters or, beyond that limit, to where the depth of
the superjacent waters admits of the exploitation of the natural resources of the said areas.
To the seabed and subsoil of similar areas adjacent to the coasts of island.

Patrimonial sea
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Or the exclusive economic zone. Extends two hundred nautical miles from the coast or the
baseline.

Open seas or high seas

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-

Are res communes and available to the use of all states for purposes of navigation, flying over
them, lying submarine cables or fishing.
A state may exercise jurisdiction even in high seas.
a) Over its vessels
b) Over pirates
c) In the exercise of the right of visit and search
d) Under the doctrine of hot pursuit

Five air freedoms

a) Freedom to fly across foreign territory without landing
b) The freedom to land for non-traffic purposes
c) The freedom to put down traffic originating in the state of the aircraft
d) The freedom to embark traffic destined for the state of the aircraft
e) The freedom to embark traffic destined for or to put down traffic originating in a third
state.

Exterritoriality
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The exemptions of persons and property from the local jurisdiction on the basis of international
custom

Extraterritoriality
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Exemption from local jurisdiction that applies only to person and is based on treaty or
convention.

Objective territoriality (sample)

-

A man from state B was shot from territory of state A. State B has jurisdiction over the case.

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