Heads of States Objects of the Law of Nations.
§ 344. Heads of States are never subjects[701] of the Law of Nations. The position a head of a State has according to International Law is due to him, not as an individual, but as the head of his State. His position is derived from international rights and duties of his State, and not from international rights of his own. Consequently, all rights possessed by heads of States abroad are not international rights, but rights which must be granted to them by the Municipal Law of the foreign State on whose territory such foreign heads of States are temporarily staying, and such rights must be granted in compliance with international rights of the home States of the respective heads. Thus, heads of States are not subjects but objects of International Law, and in this regard are like any other individual.
[701] But Heffter (§ 48) maintains the contrary, and Phillimore (II. § 100) designates monarchs mediately and derivatively as subjects of International Law. The matter is treated in detail above, §§ 13 and 288-290; see also below, § [384].
Honours and Privileges of Heads of States.
§ 345. All honours and privileges of heads of States due to them by foreign States are derived from the fact that dignity is a recognised quality of States as members of the Family of Nations and International Persons.[702] Concerning such honours and privileges, International Law distinguishes between monarchs and heads of republics. This distinction is the necessary outcome of the fact that the position of monarchs according to the Municipal Law of monarchies is totally different from the position of heads of republics according to the Municipal Law of the republics. For monarchs are sovereigns, but heads of republics are not.
II MONARCHS
Vattel, I. §§ 28-45; IV. § 108—Hall, § 49—Lawrence, § 105—Phillimore, II. §§ 108-113—Taylor, § 129—Moore, II. § 250—Bluntschli, §§ 126-153—Heffter, §§ 48-57—Ullmann, §§ 41-42—Rivier, I. § 33—Nys, II. pp. 280-296—Calvo, III. §§ 1454-1479—Fiore, II. Nos. 1098-1102—Bonfils, Nos. 633-647—Mérignhac, II. pp. 94-105—Pradier-Fodéré, III. Nos. 1564-1591.
Sovereignty of Monarchs.
§ 346. In every monarchy the monarch appears as the representative of the sovereignty of the State and thereby becomes a Sovereign himself, a fact which is recognised by International Law. And the difference between the Municipal Laws of the different States regarding this point matters in no way. Consequently, International Law recognises all monarchs as equally sovereign, although the difference between the constitutional positions of monarchs is enormous, if looked upon in the light of the rules laid down by the Constitutional Laws of the different States. Thus, the Emperor of Russia, whose powers are very wide, and the King of England, who is sovereign in Parliament only, and whose powers are therefore very much restricted, are indifferently sovereign according to International Law.