Declaratory Theory

Definition of Declaratory Theory

In the context of international law, the legal resource A Dictionary of Law, provides a definition of Declaratory Theory : The proposition that a state has capacity (and personality) in international law as soon as it exists in fact (that is, when it becomes competent in municipal law). This capacity is generated spontaneously from the assertion by the community that it is a judicial entity. When socially organized, the new state is internally legally organized, and hence competent to act in such a way as to engage itself in international responsibility. Thus, according to this theory, *recognition does not create any state that did not already exist.

See international legal personality.

Compare constitutive theory.