Public International Law (PIL)
the state to direct its domestic affairs.
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE STATE
A. Right of Existence, Integrity and Self-
Preservation (Self Defense)
Modes of acquiring territories:
1. Discovery and Occupation - Only terra
nullius or stateless territory could be acquired
by discovery and occupation.
2. Prescription – Two important elements:
Continuous, public and adverse possession
plus lapse of a reasonable period of time.
3. Cession – effected either voluntarily or
involuntarily.
4. Accretion – is a process of attaching or
incorporating something to what an owner of
territory already has: the process maybe
natural one (cause by natural forces as the
current of river or the action of the sea) or an
artificial one (such as by the act of the State in
reclaiming part of the sea in so called
reclamation projects).
** Right to self-defense is expressly
recognized by the UN Charter. Article 51
thereof provides that “Nothing in the present
Charter shall impair the inherent right of
Individual or Collective self-defense if any
armed attack occurs against a member of the
United Nations, until the Security Council has
taken the measures necessary for the
maintenance of international peace and
security.
Note: The presence of an armed attack to
justify the exercise of the right of self-defense
under this article suggest that forcible
measures may be taken by a state only in the
face of necessity of self-defense instant,
overwhelming and leaving no choice of means
and no moment for deliberation.
B. Right of Sovereignty and Independence
Sovereignty is the supreme power inherent in
a state to absolutely control a definite territory.
Independence, on the other hand, is a
freedom from external control in the conduct of
external and internal affairs.
Internal sovereignty – refers to the power of
External sovereignty – signifies the freedom of
the state to control its own foreign affairs. It is
referred to as independence.
Essential attributes of Sovereignty are:
1. Perpetuity or permanence – so long as the
State continues to exist;
2. Exclusiveness or impenetrability- generally
all persons sojourning in the state are subject
to the exclusive jurisdiction of the said State.
3. Inalienability – State ceases to be sovereign
from the moment it alienate such sovereignty.
4. Unity – authority is indivisible: try to divide
authority and the result will be inevitable
chaos.
5. Comprehensiveness – sovereignty deals
with all persons and all property within the
territory.
Note: The State’s sovereignty and
independence cannot be considered absolute,
certain restrictions enter into the picture: 1.
Limitations imposed by the international
scheme of things; and 2. Limitation imposed
by treaty stipulations (see: principle of auto-
limitation Tanada vs Angara May 2, 1997)
Note: Independence cannot be regarded as
importing absolute freedom. Like the liberty of
individual who must submit to limitations, it is
also subject to limitations. A state may not
employ force or even the threat of force in its
relations with other states because this is
prohibited by Article 2 of the Charter of the
United Nations. It may not refuse to observe
treaties in good faith in accordance with the
maxim pacta sunt servanda. The principle of
mare liberum will prevent it from arrogating to
itself the exclusive use of the open seas to the
detriment of other states.
Intervention – an act by which a state
interferes with the domestic or foreign affairs
of another state through the employment of
force or threat of force.
Note: Instances when the use of force or
intervention is allowed under the Charter of the
United Nation: 1. when it is exercised as an
act of self-defense, 2. when it is decreed by
the Security Council as a preventive or
enforcement action for the maintenance of
international peace and security, 3. When
such action is agreed upon in a treaty, 4.
Payment of contractual obligations, 5.
Protection of the rights of aliens, and 6. Other
grounds such as justice, humanity, religion,
national prestige, legitimacy, economic
interest, and balance of power.
C. Right of Equality
In Article 2 of the Charter of the United
Nations, it is announced that “The
Organization is based on the principle of the
sovereign equality of all its Members.” The
principle is more fully fleshed out in the
provision of the Montevideo Convention of
1933 that “states are judicially equal, enjoy the
same rights, and have equal capacity in their
exercises. By equality we mean legal equality
not political equality.
Important Consequences of the Legal Equality
of States
1. Each state has a right to vote – but to one
vote only – in all questions which can be
settled only by consent.
2. The weights of the votes are usually equal
3. The rule of par in parem not habet imperium
– no state can claim jurisdiction over another.
4. The courts of one State do not, as a rule,
question the validity or legality of the official
acts of another sovereign State, so long as
those rules take effect within the sphere of the
latter’s own jurisdiction.
5. Equality can be retained only if there is
dignity: thus, by virtue of legal equality, a State
has the corollary right to its reputation, good
name and dignity.
Note: Act of State Doctrine is the doctrine that
a State should not inquire into the legal validity
of the public acts (legislative, executive,
judicial) of another State (or foreign sovereign
powers) done within the territory of the latter.
Act of State doctrine is not a principle of
international law. Failure to apply the doctrine
does not constitute a breach of international
obligation, BUT neither does international law
forbid the application of the rule. Under both
Public International Law and Transnational
Law, a person who feels aggrieved by the acts
of a foreign sovereign can ask his own
government to espouse his cause through
diplomatic channels. Once the State decides
to espouse the claim, the case ceases to be a
private cause (The Holy See vs Hon. Rosario
GR No. 101949 December 01, 1994)
D. Right of property and jurisdiction
To exist, a State must have property, i.e.,
domain; there are three kinds of domain: the
territorial domain, the maritime or fluvial
domain, and the aerial domain.
The National Territory
The national territory comprises the
Philippine archipelago, with all the islands and
waters embraced therein, and all other
territories over which the Philippines has
sovereignty or jurisdiction, consisting of its
terrestrial, fluvial and aerial domains, including
its territorial sea, the sea-bed, the subsoil, the
insular shelves, and other submarine areas.
The waters around, between, and connecting
the islands of the archipelago, regardless of
their breadth and dimensions, form part of the
internal waters of the Philippines (Section 1,
Article 1, 1987 Constitution)
Territorial Domain – includes properties of
public dominion as well as properties of private
ownership. Properties of public dominion
include those for public use, those for public
service and those for the development of the
national wealth.
Maritime or Fluvial Domain – consists of
rivers, lakes, bays, gulfs, straits, and canals.
Theoretically, there are two kinds of waters:
1. The internal or inland waters (these are
completely within the territory)
2. The external or territorial or maritime
waters (these are those found within the
maritime or territorial zone, along the
coastline)
The Subsoil and the Aerial Domain – The
space below a State’s territory belongs to the
State: in principle, this ownership may even
extend to the center of the earth. The
sovereignty over the air space remains with
the subjacent State, it is subject to the
servitude or easement of innocent passage for
foreign civil aircraft.

Right of Jurisdiction consists of:

1. its territorial jurisdiction (which is its

authority over persons and properties within
the territorial boundaries); and

2. its personal jurisdiction (which in this sense

is its authority over its nationals who are now
in foreign territory)

Principle of Exterritoriality – is the fiction in

international law by virtue of which certain
foreign persons and their things are exempted
from the jurisdiction of a State on the theory
that they form an extension of the territory of
their own State.

Archipelagic Doctrine – see Magallona vs

Ermita GR No. 187167 August 16, 2011

E. The Right of Legation or of Diplomatic

Intercourse

The exercise of the right of legation is one of

the most effective ways of facilitating and
promoting intercourse among states.
Diplomatic relations are normally conducted
through the head of the state, the foreign
secretary or minister and the members of the
diplomatic service.