2. Origin of the Term
• Although the term “sovereignty” is modern, the
idea goes back to Aristotle, who spoke of the
“supreme power” of the state.
• The Roman jurists and the civilians throughout
the Middle Ages likewise had the idea, for they
frequently employed the terms summa potestas
and plenitudo potestatis by which to designate
the supreme power of the state.
• The modern terms “sovereign” and “sovereignty”
(souverain, souverainete) were first used by the
French jurists in the fifteenth century.
3. Origin of the Term
• Jean Bodin (1530-1596) in the sixteenth
century was the first writer to discus the
nature and characteristics of sovereignty in his
6th Book on the Republic.
• Niccolo Machiaveli (1469-1527), Thomas
Hobbes (1588-1679), John Locke (1632-1704),
and Montesquieu (1689-1755) are also key
figures in unfolding the concept of
sovereignty.
4. Definitions of Sovereignty
• Jean Bodin:-
– “the supreme power of the state over citizens and
subjects, unrestrained by law”.
• Hugo Grotious :-
– “the supreme political power vested in him whose
acts are not subject to any other and whose will
cannot be overridden”.
5. Definitions of Sovereignty
• Duguit:-
– “commanding power of the state; it is the will of the
nation organized in the state; it is the right to give
unconditional orders to all individuals in the territory
of the state”.
• Burgess:-
– characterizes it as “original, absolute, ultimate power
over the individual subject and all associations of
objects. Again he calls it the “underived and
independent power to command and compel
obedience”.
6. Characteristics
Permanence:
• Permanence is the main characteristics of sovereignty.
• Sovereignty lasts as long as an independent state lasts.
• The death of the king, the overthrow of the
government does not affect sovereignty.
• It rests with the state as long as the State is
independent. State & sovereignty can not be separated
from each other.
• It is permanent in that it exists as long as the state
exists. The ruler can be died but the state is permanent
7. Characteristics
Universality:
• The state is all comprehensive and the sovereign
power is universally applicable.
• No association or group of individuals, however
rich or powerful it may be, can resist or disobey
the sovereign authority.
• Every individual and every association of
individual is subject to the sovereignty of the
state.
• Sovereignty makes no exception and grants no
exemption to anyone.
8. • It is all comprehensive & universal.
• The state authority extends to all persons,
things , groups & association within its
territory without any exception.
• It is a master & others are its subordinates. No
one has either authority, or the capacity to
challenge its power.
9. Characteristics
Exclusiveness:
• By exclusiveness is meant that there can not be
two sovereigns in one independent state.
• If two sovereigns exist in a state, the unity of that
state will be destroyed. There can not exist
another sovereign state within the existing
sovereign state.
Inalienability:
• Sovereignty is the life and soul of the state and it
can not be alienated without destroying the state
itself.
10. • It means that sovereignty can not be transferred
to any one other body without destroying.
• It can not be separated from itself.
• Alienation of sovereignty by a state would mean
destruction of the state itself- “No sovereignty, no
state”.
• If a sovereign resigns, it does not imply alienation
of sovereignty . It amounts to merely a change in
the form of government. The government is only
an agency to execute the will of the sovereignty.
11. Characteristics
Indivisibility:
• Sovereignty can not be divided into parts. The
exercise of its powers may be distributed among
various governmental organs, but sovereignty is a
unit, just as the state is a unit.
• “Sovereignty is entire thing to divide it, is to
destroy” because it represents supreme will of
the state.
• Once it is divided , it no more remains a will.
• There can not be two sovereign in a state.
12. Characteristics
Unity:
• Unity is very spirit of sovereignty. The sovereign state is
united just as we are united.
Absoluteness:
• Sovereignty is absolute and unlimited.
• There can be no legal power within the state superior to it,
and there can be no legal limit to the supreme law making
power of the state.
• Sovereignty can not be limited or restricted by any superior
power within the State or outside the State.
• The sovereign is neither dependent nor accountable to
anyone. Within the state , the will of the sovereign is
supreme.
13. Characteristics
• It can make laws, amend or repeal them. it can
amend the constitution. It can use coercion for
the execution of laws within its territory.
• There is no outside authority to pressure on
State. It is not bound any international treaties,
even if, it has been a party to them.
Originality:
• By originality we mean that the sovereign wields
power by virtue of his own right and not by virtue
of anybody’s mercy.
14. Kinds of Sovereignty
Internal sovereignty:
• Sovereignty is normally understood as possessing
two distinct aspects: internal and external.
• Sovereignty within the national sphere is known
as internal sovereignty.
• A state which possesses internal sovereignty is
one which has the authority and ability to
exercise command over its society.
• In this situation there are no alternative sites of
authority within the nation.
15. Kinds of Sovereignty
External sovereignty:
• External sovereignty concerns the relationship
between a sovereign power and other states.
• The term external sovereignty is employed by
some writers to mean nothing more than the
freedom of the state from subjugation to or
control by a foreign state.
• That is supremacy of the state as against all
foreign wills, whether of persons or state.
16. Kinds of Sovereignty
Nominal & Real Sovereignty:
• In ancient times many states had monarchies and
their rulers were monarchs. They wielded
absolute power and their senates were quite
powerless. At that time they exercised real
sovereignty and regarded as real sovereign.
• For example, Kings were sovereigns and hence
were all powerful in England before fifteenth
century, in USSR before the eighteenth an
nineteenth centuries and in France before 1789.
17. Kinds of Sovereignty
• Titular(Nominal ) & Actual (Real) Sovereignty:-
• Titular sovereignty implies sovereignty in the
‘title’ or by designation.
• A titular Sovereign is supreme only in name.
• Ex: The king of England, Indian President , their
powers are exercised by the Prime Minister & the
cabinet.
• Actual sovereignty means real executive which
possess real power of state.
• Ex: P.M of India, U.K & President of U.S.A
18. Kinds of Sovereignty
Legal Sovereignty:
• Legal sovereignty is the supreme law-making
authority.
• The legal sovereign, therefore, is that
determinate authority which is able to express in
legal form the highest commands of the state.
• For instance, the parliament is the legal authority
to exercise legal sovereignty. Only its commends
are laws. It is recognized by law. It reside in one
person or body of persons.
19. Kinds of Sovereignty
Political Sovereignty:
• It is vested in the body of citizens who have a
right to vote. it is supreme in democracy.
• Its will is expressed through election & public
opinion. It influences the decision, policies & laws
made by the legal sovereign.
• The legal sovereign has to act according to the
will of the electorate. Electorate is a political
sovereign.
• the electorate constitutes the political sovereign,
yet in a wider sense
20. • It means the power of the masses as contrasted
with the power of the individual ruler of the
class.
• It implies manhood, suffrage with each individual
having only one vote and the control of the
legislature by the representatives of the people.
• In popular/ political sovereignty public is
regarded as supreme.
• In the ancient times many writers on Political
Science used popular sovereignty as a weapon to
refuse absolutism of the monarchs.
21. Kinds of Sovereignty
• De jure Sovereignty
• De jure sovereignty is the legal sovereignty and it
has foundation in law.
• Its attribute is the right to govern and command
obedience.
• It is source of law & has a legitimate claim to the
obedience of its subjects. It is a legal sovereign. it
has legal right on its side and is lawfully entitled
to command and exact obedience.
22. Kinds of Sovereignty
De facto Sovereignty
• It is the actual sovereign–a sovereign which is actually
obeyed by the people. It is purely based on physical force
or religious influence.
• De facto (or actual) sovereignty is the sovereignty which is
actually able to make its will prevail, though it may be
without legal basis.
• That person or body of persons who actually exercises
power, and who, for the time being, is able to enforce
obedience, or to whose commands voluntary obedience is
given by the bulk of the people, is called the de facto
sovereign. The criterion of sovereignty is actual obedience
to commands.
