International Personality Is Based on Capacity - Essay Example

INTERNATIONAL PERSONALITY IS BASED ON CAPA Introduction Since the formation of the UN there has been dramatic change in international relations with a move toward creating a cohesive world that speaks in one voice. The UN has lived to its mandate of creating a common world system where we are all able to talk in one voices. In order to function properly, the UN has been forming various branches that have been looking at different matter in the world. However one of the greatest achievements of the United Nations has been the formulation for the internal legal system under which international relations are conditioned. This is legal systems that regulate action by states. Sine 1945 the international legal system has been used in the world to arbitrate different conflicts and to bring conflicting sides to the table. The UN has played a pivotal role in the development of an internal legal system. However the principle subject that has been emphasized on the international law has been states rather than individuals. Individual have been placed under the municipal law. The international court of Justice had acknowledged in the repartition case which types of the international personality other than the statehood could be in existence which has seen an expansion of the subjects of the international law. But apart from the mention states, there have also been concerns that personality is also possessed by other bodies like international organization and human beings. The non-governmental organization and national liberation movement are also showing a great possession of international personality. (Nijman 2004, p. 2) Therefore in the international law personality there is a conflicting view of legal personality statues since it can apply to individual countries or states and as well it can apply to organizations. Legal personality in the international law In the international laws the general criteria that are used for legal personality may be summarized in many ways. Legal personality for an international organization may be looked at in terms of: 1) Apartment associate of states with lawful object, equipped with organs 2) Distributing between the organization and its members states 3) The existence of legal powers which are exercisable in the internal place and only within the national systems of states. According to the international laws, international legal personality is defined as “The capacity to bear legal rights and duties under international law” (Brownlie 1990, p. 680-683) Therefore an “international legal person” can be said to an entity that is having powers to act independent on the international plane. In right to this we can therefore see that international personality is therefore bench marked on the power that is given to the entity. If the entity does not have the power to force the power that has been granted under the international laws, therefore it cannot be said to be an international person. This is the reason why the definition of an internal individual may not be the same as the normal definition since it will be referring to a specific entity rather those specific human beings. This means that the international community is taken as a being made up of “persons” who posses powers to act on behalf of the international community. This definition hence takes in the factors of power that is granted to the specific individual to implement the powers for the international community. While in our normal definition we may be referring to specific humans, the international community recognizes the states alone. But the non-governmental organization has also been given the same power of recognition in the international community as states. While the international law clearly defines an international person as “an entity that has the capacity to bear legal rights and duties under the international law” non governmental organizations have been able to bear the foresaid legal right and duties. (Greig 1996, p. 32) International organizations are also given legal entity in the internal community. While the aim of the international law is to bring together the world, it has been changing from time to time in order to accommodate other emerging influential entities like the sates. Originally the states which are political arrangement in a country have been given the sole membership to the body. However there has been other emerging center of power that also need to be recognized by the international law. There has been development of other organization like the non governmental organization that needs to be recognized by the body. With an aim of consolidating or bringing the world together, the international law must therefore seek to address the needs of various segments in the world. It must recognize that changing arrangement in the world. The emergence of trade blocs and non governmental organization that need to be given the same legal entity to the international community has been well defined in the laws. There is a further elaboration of the international legal personality in light of this. While the state has the totality of all the right that are granted under the international law or it has totally of international right duet as recognized by the international laws, the right and the duties of other entity like an international organization has to be defined in another way. There is a regulation that the entity of such an organization “Must depend on its purposes and function as specified or implied in its constituent document and developed in practice” Therefore we see that there is clear distinction between the personality of belonging to a nation and personality of belonging to the international community. Personality of individual to a nation is based on the rights of being born or staying for some time in a nation and therefore it dos not depend on the capacity of the individual person. However in the international arena, legal personality is based on the capacity of the individual personality as defined to have the legal right and capacity to carry out duties as per the international laws. Therefore there is a factor of capacity that brings the difference between the two entities. Under the doctrine of the international law, therefore the capacity of the entity is more exemplified by the way in which the given entity is recognized. This means that the legal personality as defined must therefore have laws in itself that are in line with the provision of the international law. It must have domestic laws that are in line with the requirements of the international laws. (Verdirame 2004, p. 92) There are usually incidence when the domestic law comes to conflict with the international law. In this regard there is usual a question of superiority of the laws. But as defined by the capacity description in the internal law, any entity that has ratified the internal law is also obliged to live to its ratification. Therefore in most instances when the domestic law conflict the international law, the personality will have to bear the capacity to implement the international laws and therefore it is t the international law that will carry the day. The legal entity will have to live to its ratification and therefore carry out the internal laws as agreed. (Klabber 1998, p. 34) Conclusion It is evident here that the legal personality in the face of international law is quite different from the legal entity of the domestic law. While in the domestic law it may be based on some factors of residence, it is contrary to the international law. The legal personality in the international laws is based on the legal capacity of the entity to carry out duties as depicted in the internal laws. This means that legal personality here is defined by the capacity of in the “individual person” to carry out duties as required by the internal law. Reference Brownlie, L 1990, Principles of public international law, Oxford University Press Greig, D 1996, International Law, Macmillan, London Klabber, J 1998, Presumptive Personality, International Law Aspects of the Europe Union. Nijman, J 2004, The concept of international legal personality: an inquiry into the history and theory of international law, Asser Press, The Hague Verdirame, G 2004, Personality, Statehood and Government, Cambridge University Read More