Notes on the Recognition of De Facto Governments by European States

Abstract

This is a topic that seems to have almost wholly escaped the attention of so-called authorities or publicists on international law. Bonfils, for example (7th ed., p. 135), calls attention to the difference between the recognition of a new state and a new government, but fails to show what the distinction is. Calvo (5th ed., 1, pp. 236 ff.) discusses rather fully recognition of belligerency and independence, but apparently has nothing to say of the recognition of new de facto governments in case of revolution. Even Pradier-Fodéré, the most voluminous of the authorities, seems to have nothing to impart on this subject.