2. WHAT IS A STATE?
A STATE is a community of persons, more
or less numerous, occupying a definite
territory, possessing an organized
government, and enjoying independence
from external control.

3. It is a people permanently occupying a fixed
territory and bound by a common-law habits and
customs into one body politic, exercising through
the medium of an organized government,
independent sovereignty and control over all
persons and things within its boundaries,
capable of making war and peace and entering
into international relations with other
communities of the globe.

4. STATE AND NATION
 NATION is defined as people, or aggregation of men,
existing in the form of an organized society, usually
inhabiting a distinct portion of the earth, speaking
the same language, using the same customs,
possessing historic continuity, and disguised from
other like groups of their racial origin and
characteristics, and generally, but not necessarily,
living under the same government and sovereignty.

5. STATE AND NATION
 STATE is more of a political concept while NATION
is racial or ethical.
 For example, the nations referred to in the United
Nations are actually state.
 The Arab Nation is not a state but a nation which
consists of several states, such as Saudi Arabia,
Yemen, Egypt, etc.
 On the other hand, USA is a state but it consists of
several nations such as Caucasian, African, Chinese,
Indian nations.

6. ELEMENTS OF STATE
People
Territory
Government
Sovereignty

7. PEOPLE
 The entire body of those citizens of a state who
are invested with political power for political
purposes.
 It is necessary to the existence of the state.
 The number should be neither too small nor too
large.
 A casual gathering of individuals by chance, a
group of bandits or a society of pirates do not
form people as an element of state.

8.  Citizens are members of a political community who
have established or submitted themselves to the
dominion of a government for the promotion of their
general welfare and the protection of their
individual as well as collective rights.
 Citizens owe allegiance to their government and
exercise full civil and political rights subject to
special disqualification such as minority, insanity,
etc.

9.  On the other hand, SUBJECTS owe allegiance to a
sovereign and are governed by its laws but do not
have full civil and political rights.
 Citizenship is a membership in a political society
implies a duty of allegiance on the part of the member
and a duty of protection on the part of the society.
 Allegiance is the obligation of fidelity and obedience,
which the individual owes to the government under
which he lives, or to his sovereign in return for the
protection he receives.

10.  A citizen or subject owes absolute and permanent
allegiance to his government or sovereign, or at
least until, by some open and distinct act, he
renounces it and becomes a citizen or subject of
another government or sovereign.
 An alien, while domiciled in a country, owes it
temporary allegiance, which is continuous during
his residence.
 Allegiance of citizens and subjects to their
legitimate governments is not suspended during
enemy occupation.

11. TERRITORY
 It is a geographical area under the jurisdiction of
another country or sovereign power or state.
 It must be a fixed territory which the inhabitants
occupy.
 A state must have a territory sufficient in extent
to provide for its maintenance and growth.

12. FOUR MODES A STATE CAN
ACQUIRE TERRITORY:
 Discovery and occupation
 Prescription
 Cession
 Subjugation and Annexation

13. DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION
 A state may acquire a territory by
discovering a continent, an island or land
with no inhabitants or occupied by
uncivilized inhabitants, and thereafter,
occupying it by placing it under its
political administration.

14.  Discovery will give the state inchoate title
over the discovered land that will prevent
others from acquiring it for a reasonable
period of time until the inchoate title is
transformed into a full title by administering
it.

15. CONDITIONS FOR AN
EFFECTIVE OCCUPATION
1. That the parties occupying the territory must
have been authorized by the state for which
they are acting
2. That the state must by formal evidence its
intention acquire sovereignty over the new
territory
3. That there must be established within a
reasonable time after discovery some
governmental authority.

16. LANDS THAT CAN BE SUBJECTS OF DISCOVERY AND
OCCUPATION:
 Uninhabited lands
 Lands inhabited by uncivilized persons
 Lands discovered by a state but which it failed to
occupy for unreasonable length of time.

17. UNINHABITED LANDS
 The Philippnes acquired the Kalayaan Group of
Islands through discovery and occupation. Tomas
Cloma, who actually discovered the uninhabited
islands, ceded his right in favor of the
Philippines. Thereafter, the Philippines occupied
the islands by establishing a municipality
therein.

18. LANDS INHABITED BY UNCIVILIZED PERSONS
 Ferdinand Magellan, in behalf of the Spanish
Crown, discovered the archipelago of the
Philippines, although at that time the Negritos,
Malays and Indones inhabited the islands.
 Spanish authorities occupied the Philippines by
establishing a government therein under its
control making it a colony of Spain.

19. UNOCCUPIED DISCOVERED LANDS
 Failure to put the discovered land under the
administration of the discovering state for an
unreasonable length of time will open the land
for acquisition of other states through discovery
and occupation.

20. PRESCRIPTION
 It is the mode of acquiring a territory through
continuous and undisputed exercise of
sovereignty over it during such period as is
necessary to create under the influence of
historical development the general conviction
that the present condition of things is in
conformity with international order.

21. CESSION
 It is the assignment, transfer, or yielding up of
territory by one state or government to another.
 It may be in the form of sale or donation.
 An example of this is the TREATY OF PARIS.

22. SUBJUDATION AND ANNEXATION
 It is a mode of acquiring a territory belonging to
a state by occupation and conquest made by
another state in the course of war and by
annexation at the end of the war.
 Conquest also gives the conqueror inchoate title
that may be converted into a full title after
annexation of the territory.

23.  Subjugation differs from cession for the latter is a
voluntary mode of acquisition while the former is
not.
 Conquest and annexation are also called
involuntary cession.

24.  ACCRETION is another mode of acquiring
territory by addition of portions of soil, either
artificial such as the reclamation area in Manila
Bay, or natural by gradual deposition through
the operation of natural causes such as the waves
of the ocean.

25. GOVERNMENT
 Is the totality of authorities which rule a society
by prescribing and carrying out fundamental
rules which regulate the freedom of its members.
 It is a whole class of officeholders upon whom
devolve the executive, judicial, and
administrative functions of the State.

26. KINDS OF GOVERNMENT:
 De Jure Government
 De Facto Government

27. DE JURE OR LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT
 It is one established according to the constitution
of the nation, and lawfully entitled to recognition
and supremacy and administration of the nation,
but which is actually cut off from power or
control.
 It is a government deemed lawful or deemed
rightful or just, but which, nevertheless, has been
supplanted or displaced.

28. DE FACTO OR ILLEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT
 It is one that maintains itself by a display of force
against the will of the rightful legal government
and is successful, at least temporarily, in
overturning the institutions of the rightful legal
government by setting its own in lieu thereof.

29. 3 KINDS OF DE FACTO
GOVERNMENT
1. Government by Revolution
2. Government by Occupation
3. Government by Secession

30. BY REVOLUTION
 Established by the inhabitants who rise in revolt
against and depose the legitimate regime.
 If the communist rebels successfully overthrow the
present government, the communist government to
be formed by the rebels will be considered as de
facto government by revolution while the status
of the ousted capitalist government will remain
legitimate.

31. BY SECESSION
 Established by the inhabitants of a state who secede
there from without overthrowing its government.
 If the MILF would succeed in its armed and
revolutionary campaign to make Mindanao a state
separate and independent from the Philippines, the
government to be established by the MILF will be
classified as de facto gov’t by secession while the
Phil. Gov’t will be considered as a de jure gov’t.

32. BY OCCUPATION
 Established in the course of war by the invading
forces of one aggressive country in the territory of
another aggressive country, the government of
which is also displaced.
 Example of this is the Puppet Government by
Japanese sovereign in the Philippines.

33. HOW TO DETERMINE THE STATUS OF A
GOVERNMENT
 If there is only one government in control of a
country, there is no need to determine
whether its status is de jure or de facto.
 The necessity of assessing the status only
arises when one government is in possession
of power while another is not.

34.  If the ousted government is established in
accordance with the constitution, it will be
treated as de jure.
 On the other hand, the government which
grabbed the power of the legitimate government
will be designated as de facto.
 However, in international law, the status does
not depend on whether it is established
constitutionally but rather on the recognition
that the community of nations may extend to it.

35. FROM DE FACTO STATUS TO DE
JURE
 A de facto government may transform into a de
jure government once the government in
possession has organized a constitutional system
of government.

36. EXAMPLE
The communist government of Mao Tse Tung which
controlled the China mainland after the ouster of
Chiang Kai Shek in 1949 was a de facto gov’t by
revolution; while the former which was in control of
Formosa Island(Taiwan) was a de jure gov’t. After the
completion of local elections, the convocation of the
National People’s Congress and the unanimous
adoption of the Constitution in 1954, its de facto was
changed to de jure.

37.  However, under international law, the elevation
of status of government from de facto to de jure
will depend on the recognition of the
international community.

38. FORMS OF GOV’T IN TERMS OF
POLITICAL SYSTEM
 Monarchial
 Aristocratic
 Democratic
-these three forms of government point to whom
sovereign powers belong.

39. MONARCHIAL
 The sovereign power is vested in a single person,
the monarch, who has hereditary rights to rule as
head of state.
 A monarch may be a kingm queen, emperor, tsar,
Kaiser, sultan, or pharoah.
 The throne is usually passed on to the eldest son
or the nearest male descendant.

40. ARISTOCRACY
 Sovereign power is vested in a class or persons
who are believed to be superior and best qualified
to rule.
 Aristocracy comes from the Greek word aristos or
best and krutos or power.
 Governmental power is wielded by a few, but
theoretically the administration of government is
carried on for the welfare of the many.