CONSEQUENCES OF NONRECOGNITION
IN UK LAW
Mr. Cannon introduced his comments by noting that he was speaking on his
own behalf and not on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government and thus his
comments should not be construed as representing any view or position of
the UK Government.
While the grant of recognition is an act on the international plane affecting the
mutual rights and obligations of states and their status or legal capacity in
general, it also has very significant consequences at the national level.
Whether or not a state is recognized in the UK is a matter for the government,
which has applied a policy of expressly recognizing states – most recently
Kosovo in February 2008. If the executive recognizes a state, that
recognized state has full legal personality before the domestic courts. It can
act as any other actor, sue and be sued, subject of course to the rules of state
immunity. Its legislative and executive acts will be given effect in the courts of
the recognizing state, and its diplomatic personnel will be able to claim the
appropriate immunities.
More complicated, and perhaps more interesting, is the question of the
consequences in UK law of non-recognition. It is suggested that this is a
difficult area of law, and largely still undeveloped. In very few of the cases
where the issue has been discussed has the judicial comment been the ratio
of the case. Given that the law of recognition falls squarely within the realm
of politics and international relations, so the task of the UK courts in trying to
extract clear domestic legal principles is by no means straightforward.