SOVEREIGN

MEANING OF SOVEREIGN

Sovereign is described as a person who has the authority or supreme power, such as a queen or a king. The word sovereign is described as having an absolute power that no one can check. States and nations are also represented as sovereign meaning that they have power over their government under their control. Sovereign is the synonym of supreme indicating "of the most exalted kind."

Sovereignty is derived from the Latin word superanus through the French souveraineté. It is the equivalent of supreme power. In political theory, the sovereign is the ultimate authority; in the process of decision-making of the state and maintaining law and order. The concept of sovereignty is closely related to the concepts of government and state and democracy and independence.

Sovereignty and International Law

The doctrine of sovereignty has an important impact on the developments within the states. Sovereigns observe basic rules derived from the law of reason or nature, the common law to all the nations, and the fundamental laws of the state determining the sovereign succeeding to sovereignty and limits of the sovereign power. The constitutional law of the state restricted the Bodin’s sovereign. It was considered a binding factor upon human beings.

Significant restrictions began to appear on the freedom of action of states during the 20th century. The Hague conventions established detailed rules that governed the conduct of wars at sea and on land. The UN's forerunner, the Covenant of the League of Nations, restricted the right to war, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact condemned the recourse of war for the international controversy’s solutions and its use of the national policy. The UN Charter followed them, which imposed a duty on member states to settle down the international disputes peacefully so that international security, peace, and justice, were not supplemented and endangered with the injunction of all members refraining from the international relations.

Sovereignty ceased to be known as unrestricted power in case of such developments. States accepted a considerable body of law that limited the sovereign right to act. The restrictions on sovereignty are explained as deriving a consent or auto limitation. New rules cannot be imposed on a state, without the consent, of other states' will. A balance is achieved between states' desire to protect and the needs of the international society sovereignty to the maximum extent.

CONCLUSION

The concept of unlimited and absolute sovereignty didn’t last long after its adoption. Democracy’s growth imposed important limitations on the ruling classes and the power of the sovereign. The interdependence of the states restricted the principle that is right in international affairs. Policymakers and citizens recognized that there could be no peace without law and no law without sovereignty limitations.

Author: Ankita Agarwal