Chapter 3 – Concept of the State

1. Definition
 Community of persons, numerous, permanently occupying a fixed territory
 The state is a legal concept, while nation is only a racial or ethnic concept.
 A nation need not be a state at all
 The state must also be distinguished from the government.
 The government is only an element of the State, the State is the principal, the
government its agent.
 The state itself is an abstraction (where General Rule and concepts are derived) ; it is the
government that externalizes the State and articulates its will.
2. Elements
 Essential elements of a State are: “PETEGOSO”
People
Territory
Government
Sovereignty
 Accepted Criteria for the establishment of a STATE:
1. Permanent population
2. A defined territory
3. A government
4. Capacity to enter into relations with other states.
3. People
 Inhabitants of the State
 must be numerous enough to be self-sufficing and to defend themselves and small
enough to be easily administered and sustained.
4. Territory (Article 1 of the Constitution)
 fixed portion of the surface of the earth inhabited by the people of the State.
 Components of territory:
1. Land mass or terrestrial domain
2. In land and external waters or the maritime and fluvial domain
3. Air space above the land and waters or the aerial domain.
 Section 2 of Republic Act No. 5446 “is without prejudice to the delineation of the
baselines of the territorial sea around the territory of Sabah, situated in North Borneo,
over which the Republic of the Philippines has acquired dominion and sovereignty.