In this sense Russia, England, France, China, Japan, and the United States are sovereign states. "From the point of view of international law, the attributes which are essential to the conception of a sovereign state are three in number-sovereignty, independence, and equality. "The sovereignty of a state is its inherent right to assume and exercise jurisdiction over all questions arising within its boundaries, and to control and regulate the actions and legal relations of all persons within its territorial limits. "The conception of independence is included in that of sovereignty, of which, indeed, it is the negative view. It involves an immunity from all interference from without in the purely internal affairs of a state and implies a corresponding obligation to abstain from similar interference in the internal affairs of other states. "It has been seen that a state possesses a certain number of sovereign rights and powers. These rights are possessed in precisely the same number and to the same degree by every sovereign state. This is called the equality of states. It is not to be inferred from this definition that all states are equal in dignity, importance, or power. It is only asserted that each state possesses the same number of sovereign rights and powers, and each to the same degree that they are possessed by every other state. For example, England and Portugal have the same right to borrow money, to send ambassadors, and to make treaties of alliance. But whether one can borrow money at a lower rate of interest than the other, whether the ambassadors of both powers at Berlin have the same influence, and whether an alliance with one will be as advantageous as with the other, are questions that depend upon the financial resources, political influence, and military power of each state, all of which are very unequal." " SECTION 22. QUASI SOVEREIGN STATES. The title of this section is used to designate all the various classes of states or political bodies which, although they fail to possess all the attributes of sovereign states, still possess certain of these attributes in a greater of less degree. Under this head will be included: (a) Members of a confederation. (b) Protectorates. (c) Suzerainties. (d) Colonies. (e) Neutralized States. (f) Belligerents. SECTION 23. MEMBERS OF A CONFEDERATION. "A confederation is an artificial state, resulting from the more or less complete union of two or more states. This involves the temporary or permanent surrender of some sovereign rights on the part of each of the confederated states which pass to, and are vested in, the artificial state created by the treaty of union, or constitution of the confederacy. The number and importance of the sovereign rights surrendered by the component states will determine the character and strength of the confederacy." s Confederations are of two general classes: first, those where the real sovereign power is left to the constituent states; and second, those where the real • Davis on International Law, ' Id., p. 37. pp. 34-5-6. sovereign power is granted to the central government. The United States was a confederation of the first class under the articles of Confederation, and of the second class under the Constitution. Germany and Switzerland are also countries which have passed from the first class into the second. In about all confederations the first power granted to the central government is the control of foreign relations, with the result that International Law is seldom concerned with the constituent states. SECTION 24. PROTECTORATES. A protectorate is a state under the protection of some larger power. The protected states retain all powers not specifically resigned. "States under protectors-protectorates-usually possess all powers not specifically resigned. States fully sovereign may demand, (1) that states under protectors afford reasonable protection to the subjects and to the property of subjects of fully sovereign states, and (2) that the protecting state use reasonable measures to give effect to the protection which it has assumed. Just how much responsibility the protecting state has depends upon the degree of protection exercised and assumed. The protectorate of Great Britain over the South African Republic by the agreement of 1884 was of a very moderate form. The right to veto within a certain time any treaty made with a foreign state, other than the Orange Free State and native princes, constituted practically the only restriction on the independence of the Republic. Great Britain has several other protectorates in Africa, over which the degree of authority varies. In many instances protectorates easily pass into colonies, as in the case of Madagascar, which Great Britain recognized as under French protection in 1890, which protection the Queen of Madagascar accepted in October, 1895, and in August, 1896, Madagascar was declared a French colony." SECTION 25. SUZERAINTIES. A state under suzerainty possesses only such powers as are specifically granted to it by the suzerain. Most of the modern instances of suzerainty have been in cases of various provinces of the Turkish Empire. In these instances suzerainty was the first step towards independence or the control of some European government. SECTION 26. COLONIES. In former times colonies were governed entirely by the mother country, and even today all matters of foreign affairs are thus determined. Many modern colonies, however, have been given a very complete power of local self-government, the most favored colony in this respect being the Australian Confederation. SECTION 27. NEUTRALIZED STATES. A permanently neutralized state is one the integrity of whose territory and independence have been guaranteed by the larger powers, and who, in consideration thereof, has surrendered the right of engaging in war, or making any treaty which might involve it in war. There are three of this class of states in Europe-Belgium, Switzerland and Luxemburg. A similar agreement has been made by the powers with relation to the Congo Free State in Africa. 4 Wilson and Tucker on International Law, Sec. 24. Vol. XII.-3. SECTION 28. BELLIGERENTS. Belligerents are the inhabitants of a portion of a sovereign state, who are in rebellion against the government of such state, who are in possession of a portion of the territory of such state and who have been recognized as belligerents by at least some of the sovereign states of the world. SECTION 29. STATES NOT CONSIDERED AS WITHIN THE PROTECTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. Uncivilized communities are considered as entirely without the protection of international law. Even the civilized Asiatic states, with the single exception of Japan, have never been accorded the same rights as those belonging to the European and American countries. For example, Europeans and Americans in such countries have never been held to be subject to the regular civil and criminal courts of such countries, but have been allowed to have all cases in which they are concerned tried by Consular courts. SECTION 30. RECOGNITION OF NEW STATES. New states may come into existence either by the peaceable or violent division of an existing state, or by the union of two or more small states to form a larger one. An illustration of the first method is found in the recent separation of Norway and Sweden; of the second in the securing of the independence of the United States; and of the third in the consolidation of the various German states into the German Empire. A new state does not come fully within the protection of the principles of International Law |