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JAN ONDŘEJ
CYIL 6 ȍ2015Ȏ
Introduction
Entities which, although they
exhibit many feature of states,
are not recognized
by the majority of states are sometimes described as
de facto regimes.
1
Kosovo,
2
for
example, was not recognized by Russia, China, India and, within the European
Union, by Slovakia, Spain, Greece, Rumania or Cyprus. These states argue that, apart
from the illegitimate separation of a part of a sovereign state, recognition of Kosovo
would support separatist demands in problem regions
3
of their own which they are
worried about. A third kind of state which
refuses
to recognize
de facto regimes
as a
new state deals with this entity as non-existent and still recognizes the
sovereignty
of
the
original state
4
over the separated territory
. Among de facto regimes one
can includ
Taiwan, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and so on.
1. Subjects of International Law
General international public law does not contain the
concept of subject
and does
not define which persons (entities) can be considered subjects. Only the individual
norms of international public law, namely
international treaties (agreements)
provide
an indirect answer to this question. They list subjects of particular rights and duties.
It is therefore a matter of
investigation
in any particular case what
rights and duties
of
international law are granted to a particular person.
The concept of subject and its enumeration is therefore defined by the
doctrine
of international law. Some authors stress that the subject is that person (entity)
which has the capacity to set standards. Another concept, and it can be considered
as prevailing, arises from the concept of subject as defined by general doctrine of law.
This approach is present both in the Czech doctrine of international law as well as by
foreign authors. According to Dixon,
5
for example, the
subject
of international law is
a person or entity which is capable of
possessing and exercising rights and duties
under
international law. The s
ubject of law
,
also international law, is any entity to which
the given legal framework concedes the capability of
rights and duties
and generally
of
legality
.
As in national law, where various subjects of law are distinguished (individuals,
legal persons, the state) and which differ from each other, there are also subjects of
1
SCHEU, H. Ch. Vznik nového státu a jeho uznání v mezinárodním právu.
Mezinárodní politika
, 2008,
č. 4, s. 6.
2
Podrobněji k otázce Kosova in: POTOČNÝ, M., ONDŘEJ, J.
Mezinárodní právo veřejné
. Zvláštní
část, 6. vydání. Praha: C.H. Beck, 2011, s. 24 a násl.
3
LOSKOT, T. Nezávislé Kosovo uznala za rok od vyhlášení jen čtvrtina států.
Právo
ze 17 února 2009.
4
KOLLÁR, M. Niekoľko úvah k vyhlášeniu nezávislosti a (ne)uznanou Kosova jako nezávislého štátu
z pohľadu medzinárodného práva in:
Ročenka medzinárodného práva
. Bratislava : Slovenská spoločnosť
pre medzinárodné právo při SAV, 2008, s.26.
5
DIXON, M.
Textbook on International Law
. Fourth edition. London: Blackstone Press Limited, 2000,
p. 104.