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SUZERAINTY

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 175 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SUZERAINTY . " Suzerain," a See also:

term of feudal See also:law, is now used to describe persons or states in positions of superiority to others. Its See also:etymology, according to See also:Professor W. W. See also:Skeat (Etymological See also:Dictionary), is as follows: " A coined See also:Definition. word; made from See also:French See also:sus, Latin susum or sursum, above, in the same way as See also:sovereign is made from Latin super; it corresponds to a See also:Low Latin type suseranus." Another See also:form of the word is souseran (F. See also:Godefroy, De l'Ancienne langue fran4aise). Suzerain has been defined as " Qui possede un See also:fief dont d'autres fiefs relevent " (See also:Littre and Dictionnaire de l'academie francaise). C. Loyseau, in his Traite See also:des scigneuries (3rd ed., 1610, p. 14), explains that there are two kinds of public seigneuries, that is, sovereign seigneurs, possessing summum imperium, and suzerains, " See also:Les suzeraines sont celles qui ont puissance superieure mais non supreme." Elsewhere he says that suzerainty is a form of public seigneuries which has been " usurpee See also:par les particuliers pour laquelle exprimer it nous a fallu forger un mot expres, et 1'appeller suzerainete, mot qui est aussi etrange comme See also:celle espece de seigneuries est absurde " (p. i i). Loyseau adds, " Seigneurie suzeraine est dignite d'un fief ayant See also:justice " (p. 38).

Bousquet (Nouveau dictionnaire de See also:

droit) defines suzerain as " superieur, celui dont un fief relevait "; Rogulau (Glossaire du droit frangeis), " superieur en quelque See also:charge ou dignite autre que le See also:roy." The name does not occur in the Consuetudines feudorum, or in Hotoman's De verbis feudalibus commentaries. It was rare in feudal times in See also:England. But it was used in See also:France to describe a feudal See also:lord, the supreme suzerain being the See also:king. See also:Merlin, under suzerainete, shows that the word was not used by all feudal writers in the same sense. (See also Chas. See also:Butler's See also:note to See also:Coke on Litt. 191 a.) In See also:modern times the term has come to be used as descriptive of relations, See also:ill-defined and vague, which exist between powerful and dependent states; its very indefiniteness being its Modern recommendation. According to feudal law the See also:vassal usage. owed certain duties to the lord; he promised fidelity and service; and the lord was See also:bound to perform reciprocal duties, not very clearly defined, to the vassal—See also:Dominus vassallo conjux 'et amicus dicitur. The relation between a lord and his vassals, implied in the See also:oath of fealty, has been extended to states of unequal See also:power; it has been found convenient to designate certain states as vassal states, and their superiors as suzerains. Originally and properly applicable to a status recognized by See also:feudalism, the term vassal See also:state has been used to describe the subordinate position of certain states once parts of the See also:Ottoman See also:Empire, and still loosely connected therewith. Such are See also:Egypt and See also:Bulgaria. See also:Rumania, See also:Servia and See also:Montenegro, once vassal states, may now be regarded as See also:independent.

The relations of these states to the Ottoman See also:

Porte are very varied. Egypt has been variously described as a vassal state or as a See also:protectorate. But all of these pay See also:tribute to the See also:sultan, or in some way acknowledge his supremacy (Emanuel See also:Ullmann, Volkerrecht, § r6); M. de See also:Martens (Traite de droit See also:international, 1883, i. 333 n.) thus defines the term: " La suzerainete est la souverainete limitee exercee par le pouvoir supreme d'un et at sur un gouvernment mi-souverain," a definition applicable to protectorates, with which it is often confounded. Thus See also:Mommsen (See also:History of See also:Rome) indiscriminately describes the supremacy of Rome over See also:Armenia as " suzerainty " or " protectorate." To illustrate the vague use of the word in modern See also:diplomacy may be quoted the description of suzerainty given by Lord See also:Kimberley, which Mr See also:Chamberlain in the See also:correspondence as to See also:South See also:Africa mentioned with approval: " Superiority over a state possessing independent rights of See also:government subject to reservations with reference to certain specified matters " (1899 [C. 90J71, p. 28). M. Gairal (Le Protectoral international) distinguishes suzerainty from protectorate in these respects: (a) suzerainty proceeds protecto- from a concession on the See also:part of the suzerain See also:rate and (p. 112); (b) the vassal state is bound to perform suzerainty. specific services; and (c) the vassal state has larger See also:powers of See also:action than those belonging to a protected state; (d) there is See also:reciprocity of See also:obligation. According to M. F.

Despagnet the term suzerain is applicable to a See also:

case in which a state concedes a fief, in virtue of its See also:sovereignty (Essai sur le protectoral international, p. 46), reserving to itself certain rights as the author of this concession. Another writer draws these distinctions: (a) a state connected by protectorship with another previously enjoyed See also:autonomy; the vassal state did not; (b) the protected state retains its See also:nationality and its See also:internal See also:administration; the vassal state acquires a distinct nationality; (c) the See also:establishment of a protectorate modifies few of the institutions of the protectorate state except as to See also:foreign relations; the establishment of a suzerainty changes the institutions of the vassal state; (d) the protected state exercises its internal sovereignty a peu prres pleinement; the vassal state remains subordinate in several respects; (e) while the protected state has the right to be assisted in case of See also:war by the protecting state, but is not bound to defend the latter, the vassal state is bound to aid its suzerain (Tchomacoff, De la Souverainetf, p. 53). See also Hachenburger, De la Nature juridique du protectoral. W. E. See also:Hall thus defines vassal states: " States under the suzerainty of others are portions of the latter which during a See also:process of See also:gradual disruption or by the See also:grace of the sovereign have acquired certain of the powers of an independent community, such as that of making commercial conventions, or of conferring their See also:exequatur on foreign consuls. Their position differs from that of the foregoing varieties of states (protectorates, &c.), in that a presumption exists against the See also:possession by them of any given international capacity (International Law,See also:rule, conclude them; such power does , not exist unless it is specially given. On the other See also:hand, a protected state, unless the contrary is stipulated, retains the power of concluding See also:treaties (See also:Bry, p. 294). It is sometimes said that a protected state, unlike a vassal state, has the right of sending representatives to foreign states.

But such distinctions are of doubtful value: the facts of each case must be considered ('Ullmann, § 26). There is one See also:

practical difference between the two relations: while the protecting and protected states tend to draw nearer, the See also:reverse is true of the' suzerain and vassal states; a protectorate is generally the preliminary to See also:incorporation, suzerainty to separation. Sometimes it is said that the territory of the vassal state forms part of the territory of the suzerain; a proposition which is true for some purposes, but not for all. All See also:definitions of suzerainty, are of little use. Each See also:instrument in which the word is used must be studied in See also:order to ascertain its significance. Even in feudal times suzerainty might be merely nominal, an instance in point being the suzerainty or over-lordship of the papacy over See also:Naples. In some cases it may be said that suzerainty. brings no practical advantages and implies no serious obligations. Among the instances in which the term is actually used in treaties are these: the See also:General Instances of Treaty, See also:Peace of See also:Paris, 1856 (arts. 21 and 22), recog- suzerainty. nized the suzerainty of See also:Turkey over the Danubian principalities See also:Moldavia and Wallachia, modifying the " sovereignty " of Turkey recognized by the Treaty of See also:Adrianople. " Les principautes de Valachie et de Moldavia continueront a jouir, sous la suzerainete de la Porte et sous la garantie des Puissances contractantes, des privileges et des immunites dont elles sent en possession." The See also:convention of the 19th of See also:August 1858 (Hertslet x. 1052) organized the then principalities " under the suzerainty of the sultan " (See also:art. r). The internal government was to be exercised by a See also:hospodar, who received his See also:investiture from the sultan, the sign of vassalship, it has been said (Tchomacoff p.

45). The autonomy of these vassal states has been fully recognized by the Treaty of See also:

Berlin of 1878 (art. 1). In the See also:Interpretation See also:Act, 1889, s. 18 (5), " suzerainty " is used to describe the authority of the sovereign over native princes. The word suzerain is used in the See also:Pretoria convention of the 3rd of August 1881 between the See also:British government and the See also:late South See also:African See also:Republic. The convention (by its See also:preamble) granted to the inhabitants See also:complete self-government, ". subject to the suzerainty of her See also:Majesty," and this suzerainty was reaffirmed in the articles. Even when the convention was being negotiated doubts arose as to its meaning, and legal authorities were divided as to its effect (see speech of Lord See also:Cairns, See also:Hansard, 269, p. 261; Lord See also:Selborne, •26o, p. 309; See also:answer of See also:attorney-general 260, 1534). It was doubtful whether territory could be ceded by the See also:Crown of its own authority; and if the power existed the cession could, it was said, be made only by virtue of clear words. From the articles substituted in the See also:London convention of the 27th of See also:February 1884 for those of 1881, the word " suzerainty " was omitted.

Fresh doubts arose as to the effect of this omission; and a correspondence on the subiect took See also:

place between the British government and the government of the republic before the outbreak of hostilities in South Africa, the former maintaining that the preamble of 1881, by which alone any self-government was granted, was still in force, and therefore that the suzerainty—whatever it involved—remained; the See also:Transvaal government, on the other hand, contending that the suzerainty had been abolished by the substitution of the 1884 convention for that of ,881. Writers on international law differ greatly as to the exact position. of the South African republic under the later convention. Some considered it an independent sovereign state. Mr See also:Taylor (A See also:Treatise of International Public Law, p. 174) treats the Transvaal after the convention of 1884 as a" neutralized state only part sovereign." Other writers describe the relation as that of a protectorate (see Professor J. Westlake, Revue de droit inter-See also:national, 1896, p. 268 seq.; International Law, pt. 1, p. 27). Professor de Louter defines it as " une See also:servitude du droit des gens (servitus See also:juris gentium), et qui differe de la servitude du 4th ed., p. 31). Another suggested distinction is this: Suzerainty is See also:title with-out corresponding- power; protectorate is power without corresponding title (Professor See also:Freund, See also:Political See also:Science Quarterly, 1899, p.

28). On the whole, usage seems to favour this distinction: while a protectorate flows from, or is a reduction of, the sovereignty of the protected state, suzerainty is conceived as derived from, and a reduction of, the sovereignty of the dominant state. As to the power of making treaties, a vassal state cannot, as a droit prive en ce qu'elle ne constitue pas un droit See also:

reel (See also:jus in re aliena) mais un droit entre deux personnes de droit inter-national (subjecta juris gentium) " (Revue de droit international, 1899, p. 330). Dr F. Von See also:Liszt (Das Volkerrecht, p. 331) treats the South African republic as an example of a See also:half sovereign state. M. Gairal describes it as a vassal state. Probably the soundest See also:opinion is that the British Crown reserved no other rights than those expressly stated in the convention of 1884. See See also:Stubbs, " Suzerainty, or the Rights and Duties of Suzerain and Vassal States " (1882), Revue de droit international (1896), pp. 39, 278; Westlake, " L'Angleterre et la republique sud-africaine," Revue de droit international (1896), p.

268; Bornhak, Eznseitige Abhangigkeitsverhaltnisse unter den modernen Staaten (1896) ; Ullmann, Volkerrecht (1908), p. 25; Tchornacoff, De la Souverainete (1901); See also:

Jellinek, See also:Die Lehre von den Staatenverbindungen (1882); Correspondence See also:Relating to South African Republic (1899) [C. 95071; Law See also:Magazine (1900), p. 413; Law Quarterly See also:Review (1896), p. 122; See also:Journal of See also:Comparative Legislation, new See also:series, vol. i. p. 432; Merignhac, Droit public international (1905), p. 204. (J.

End of Article: SUZERAINTY

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