The Concept of the State

Abstract

WHAT is the concept of the State? This question has several meanings. I do not mean that innumerable statutes and other laws in all nations use the term State and therefore must be interpreted by putting a concept in the place of this word. This highly technical question must be solved by the jurists of each nation for each nation, and cannot be dealt with by a German jurist speaking before an English public. What I aim at is the meaning of this question for general jurisprudence, and this is a fundamental one, for the State is one of the elementary concepts of jurisprudence, and is closely related to the highest concept of the legal science, namely the concept of law itself. Our question is also important for international law, because, with few exceptions, only States in the constitutional sense of the word can possess international personality, although many States in the constitutional sense are not endowed with such personality. The United States of America, for instance, are a State in the constitutiolnal as well as in the international sense of the word. The State of New York is a State only in the constitutional sense, and the city of New York is a State in neither sense of the word, although in every other respect immensely more important than a body politic like Costa Rica, which is a State in both senses. I am now only dealing with the State in the constitutional sense of the word. But even with this restriction the question of the concept of the State has far more than only juristic importance. It is of political importance too: the concept of the State is a powerful means of political propaganda. A physical or moral entity generally strives to become perfect in one sense or the other, unless this tendency is checked by some interest to the contrary. If a body politic is recognised as a State, it will endeavour to become a State of the highest type: a non-sovereign State will strive to become a sovereign State, and a composite State will