Prepared

by: Abdul-Majid P. Marohombsar

CHAPTER III: CONCEPT OF STATE

I.

DEFINITIONS

Definition of State
THE STATE is a community of persons, more or less
numerous, permanently occupying a fixed territory, and
possessed of an independent government organized for
political ends to which the great body of inhabitants render
habitual obedience
Definition of Nation
Nation indicates a relation of birth or origin and implies
a common race, usually characterized by community of
language and customs.
How are the two terms distinguished?

4 Elements of State
PEOPLE
People refers to the inhabitants of the State.
Requisites:
1. Numerous to be self sufficing
2. Numerous to defend selves
3. Small enough to administer and sustain
May develop shared characteristics, which will unite them into
a nation.
TERRITORY
Territory is the fixed portion of the surface of the earth
inhabited by the people of the State
Requisites:

The term nation is used interchangeably with State. However,

the State is a legal concept, while the nation is only a racial or
ethnic concept.

1. Must not be too big to administer and defend

2. Must not be too small to unable to provide for
the needs of the population

A nation may comprise several states i.e. Egypt, Iraq, Saudi

Arabia Arab nation.

Components:
1. Terrestrial domain land mass
2. Maritime and Fluvial domain inland and
external waters
3. Aerial domain air space above the land and
the waters

A single state may also comprise several nations i.e. U.S.

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See Article I of the 1987 Constitution

II.

ARTICLE I (NATIONAL TERRITORY)

GOVERNMENT
ARTICLE 1 (MEMORIZE)
Government is the agency or instrumentality through which
the will of the State is formulated, expressed and realized.
Components (Expound):
1. Functions
2. Parens Patriae
3. De Jure and De Facto Governments
4. Government of the Philippines
5. Administration
SOVEREIGNTY
Sovereignty is the supreme and uncontrollable power
inherent in a State by which that State is governed.
Requisites:
I. Permanent
II. Exclusive
III. Comprehensive
IV. Absolute
V. Indivisible
VI. Inalienable
VII. Imprescriptible

Article 1 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 seabed,
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.
MEANING OF ARCHIPELAGO DOCTRINE
Acrhipelago doctrine is where we connect the
outermost points of our archipelago with straight baselines
and considers all the waters enclosed thereby as internal
waters. The entire archipelago is regarded as one integrated
unit instead of being fragmented into so many thousand
islands.

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DEFINITIONS COVERED IN ARTICLE I (MEMORIZE)

DEFINITION OF BOUNDARIES OF U.N. LAW OF THE SEA

Territory an area of land under the jurisdiction of a State

Archipelago group of islands
Sovereignty supreme power or authority
Jurisdiction official power to make legal decisions and
judgements
Terrestrial of or relating to the earth
Fluvial of or found in a river
Aerial existing, happening, or operating in the air
Submarine existing, occurring, done, or used under the
surface of the area
Sea expanse of saltwater that covers most of the earths
surface and surrounds its landmasses
Seabed ground under the sea
Subsoil soil lying immediately under the surface soil
Insular shelves submerge portions of a continent or offshore
island, which slopes seaward from the low waterline to the
point at which the bottom slopes seaward at a considerable
increase in slope until the ocean is reached
Breadth the distance or measurement from side to side of
something
Dimension a measurable extent of some kind, such as
length
Baseline a minimum or starting point used for comparisons

Baseline laws are statutory mechanisms for UNCLOS III

parties to delimit extent of maritime zone & continental
shelves
It gives notice to international community scope of
maritime space, and submarine areas within which
State parties can exercise treaty-based rights:
o Sovereignty over territorial waters
o Jurisdiction to enforce customs, fiscal,
immigration & sanitation laws in a contiguous
zone
o Right to exploit living & non-living resources in
EEZs & continental shelves
Territorial Sea (12M from coastline) an area of coastal water
and seabed within a certain distance of a countrys coastline,
to which a State exercises full sovereignty.
Contiguous Zone (24M from coastline) an area of coastal
water and seabed within a certain distance of a countrys
coastline, to which a State has shared rights over another
State, the delineation of which is up to the agreement
between both states.
Exclusive Economic Zone (200M from coastline) an area of
coastal water and seabed within a certain distance of a
countrys coastline, to which a State claims exclusive rights for
fishing, drilling, and other economic activities. It is still under
Philippine sovereignty, but as a concession to the exclusive

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rights given by UNCLOS III, it is subject to the international

law principle of freedom & right to innocent passage.
Regime of Islands islands that generate their own applicable
maritime zones. Separated from Philippine archipelago (but
still under Philippine sovereignty).

Kalayaan Group of Islands (KIG) and the Scarborough

Shoal, as regime of islands.
III.

GOVERNMENT

2 FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT AS ILLUSTRATED

UNCLOS I codified the sovereign right of States parties over
their territorial sea
UNCLOS III prescribes the water-land ratio, length, and
contour of baselines of Archipelagic States like the Philippines
more precise delineation than UNCLOS I.
R.A. 3046 - made the Philippines compliant to the provisions
of UNCLOS I
Demarcated the maritime baselines of the Philippines
as an Archipelagic State
R.A. 5446 Corrected typographical errors and reserving the
drawing of baselines around Sabah in North Borneo.
R.A. 9522 made the Philippines compliant to the provisions
of UNCLOS III
Adjusted baseline of R.A. 3046
Shortened one baseline
Optimized the location of some base points around the
Phil. Archipelago and adjacent territories, namely, the

1. Constituent constitute the bonds of society and are

therefor compulsory. Example of constituent functions
a. The keeping order and providing for the
protection of persons and property from violence
and robbery (Security of Persons & Property)
b. Fixing the legal relations between husband and
wife and between parents and children (Family
Relations)
c. The regulation of the holding, transmission, and
interchange of property, and the determination
of its liabilities for debt or for crime (Trade &
Liabilities)
d. The determination of contractual rights between
individuals (Labor Rights)
e. The definition and punishment of crimes (Penal
Liabilities)
f. The administration of justice in civil cases (Civil
Justice)
g. The administration of political duties, privileges
and relations of citizens. (Political Duties,
Priviliges, And Relations)

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h. The dealings of the State with foreign powers;

the preservation of the State from external
danger or encroachment and the advancement
of its international interests (Foreign Dealings &
Protection)
2. Ministrant are those undertaken to advance the
general interests of society (merely optional). However,
it is the performance of ministrant functions that
distinguishes the paternalistic government from the
merely individualistic government.
a. Public Works
b. Public Charity
c. Regulation of Trade & Industry

DISTINGUISH BETWEEN DE JURE V. DEFACTO

Regardless of their form, governments are either de
jure or de facto.
1. De Jure Government Has rightful title, but no power
or control
Either because the power or control has
been withdrawn from it or because it has not
yet actually entered into the exercise thereof
2. De Facto Government Has no legal title, but
exercises power or control

CASES (2):
PVTA v CIR (65 SCRA 416)
Yap v. Civil Service Commission (225 SCRA 285)

Note: De Jure by right; De facto in fact

DOCTRINE OF PARENS PATRIAE

CASES (2):
Lawyers Lim v. Aquino (GR No. 73748, May 22
Co Cim Chan v. Valdez Tan Keh (75 PHIL REPORTS 113)

One of the important tasks of the government is to act

for the State as parens patriae, or act as the guardian of the
rights of the people.
CASES (2):
Government of the Phil. Islands v. Monte de Piedad (35 PHIL
REPORT 728)
Cabaas v. Pilapil (58 SCRA 94)
Note: Parens Patriae parent of the country

3 KINDS OF DE FACTO GOVERNMENT

1. The government that gets possession and control of, or
usurps, by force or by the voice of the majority, the
rightful legal government and maintains itself against
the will of the latter
a. Example:
i. Government of England under the
Commonwealth

Prepared by: Abdul-Majid P. Marohombsar

1. Pariliament by Cromwell as
Protector
2. That established as an independent government by the
inhabitants of a country who rise in insurrection against
the parent state
a. Example:
i. Government of Southern Confederacy
1. Revolt against the Union during
the war of secession in the U.S.
3. That which is established and maintained by military
forces who invade and occupy a territory of the enemy
in the course of war, and which is denominated as a
government of paramount force
a. Example:
i. Caistine, Main
1. Reduced to a British Possession in
the war of 1812
ii. Tampico, Mexico
1. Occupied during the war with
Mexico by the troops of the U.S.
IV.

SOVEREIGNTY

Define Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the supreme and uncontrollable power
inherent in a State by which that State is governed.

4 Kinds of Sovereignty
1. Legal authority, which has the power to issue final
commands.
a. In our country, the Congress is the legal
sovereign
2. Political is the power behind the legal sovereign,
or the sum of the influences that operate upon it
a. Different sectors that mold public opinion
make up the political sovereign
3. Internal sovereignty is the power of the State to
control its domestic affairs
4. External sovereignty is the power of the State to
direct its relations with other States, also known as
independence.
Effects of Belligerent Occupation
Belligerent occupants only take over the exercise of
acts of sovereignty, not sovereignty itself. Sovereignty in such
cases is not deemed suspended although the acts of
sovereignty cannot be exercised by the legitimate authority
that was took over. (i.e. Philippines being taken over by
Japan)
There being no change of sovereignty during
belligerent occupation, the political laws of the occupied
territory are merely suspended, subject to revival under the
jus postliminium (right in virtue of which persons and things

Prepared by: Abdul-Majid P. Marohombsar

taken by the enemy are restored to their former state) upon

the end of the occupation.
Constitution of the Commonwealth, being a
political law, was not effective during the
Japanese occupation
The non-political laws are deemed continued unless
changed by the belligerent occupant since they are intded to
govern the relations of individuals among themselves and are
not generally affected by changes in regimes or rulers.
Civil Code and Insurance Act, remained in
force except only where they were amended
or superseded by affirmative act of the
belligerent occupant
Exception:
1. Suspending political laws affect only the civilian
inhabitants of the occupied territory and are not
intended to bind the enemies in arms
(rebels/soldiers against belligerent occupant)
Example:
o Members of the armed force
continued to be covered by the
National Defense Act, the Articles of
War etc.
2. Rule does not apply to the law on treason
although decidedly political in character.
a. Hence, occupied Filipinos is not
compelled to commit treason against their
legitimate government, or be compelled

to give comfort and aid the belligerent

occupant
As for judicial decisions, the same are valid during the
occupation and even beyond except those of a political
complexion, which are automatically annulled upon the
restoration of the legitimate authority.
Thus, a person convicted of treason against
the Japanese Imperial force was, after the
occupation, entitled to release on the ground
that the sentence imposed on him for his
political offense had ceased to be valid.
o Exception: If the conviction is for a
non-political offense i.e. defamation,
sentence would not be affected by
termination of the occupation.
Note: Belligerent Hostile/Aggressive
Effect of Cession
Not in the book, might be in the cases. J
CASES (7):
Ruffy v. Chief of Staff (75 PHIL 875)
Laurel v. Misa (77 PHIL 856)
People v. Perfecto (277 SCRA 268)
Macariola v. Asuncion (114 SCRA 77)
Peralta v. Director of Prisons (75 PHIL 285)
Alcantara v. Director of Prisons (75 PHIL 749)
Vilas v. City of Manila (220 U.S. 345)