The treaty making capacity of the Holy See

Abstract

The Holy See is a specific (sui generis) subject of the international law. The acknowledgement of the international legal personality is related to the possession of legal capacity and the capacity of legal international proceedings. The Holy See is regarded as a sovereign subject of international law, which has its own rights and obligations concerning international relations. It has the right to send and receive the minister resident (ius legationis), to participate in conferences and to be member of international organizations (ius foederum), as well as the treaty making capacity (ius tractatuum). One of the principal formal contexts in which the question of international legal personality arises is the capacity to make treaties and agreements valid on the international legal plane. The ius tractatuum possessed by the Holy See is not only based on theoretical consideration of international law principles, but has also been amply attested to by the actual practice of states over a very long period.