1: Characteristics of the State

Question 1

What are the 3 constituent elements of a legal system?

Answer 1

1. A certain number of connected subjects
2. A titular power and authority
3. Authority having means of coercion

Question 2

What are the 6 characteristics of a legal norm?

Answer 2

1. Effectiveness
2. Force and effectiveness
3. Generality and abstraction
4. Produced solely by a legal system
5. Following a particular procedure
6. Legislated by a competent authority

Question 3

What is the State? (3 points)

Answer 3

A legal system which actively pursues general goals or ends

1. Original, non-derived entity, thus must carry external sovereignty
2. Governs its own territorial area of jurisdiction
3. Single center of political power

Question 4

What 3 characteristics need to coexist in order to have a state?

Answer 4

1. Territory
2. Sovereignty (6 theories)
   - Theocratic
   - Legitimization
   - Contractualist
   - Based on the idea of the nation
   - Attributing sovereignty to the public legal personage of the state
   - Democratic constitutionalist
3. People (4 theories)
   - Constitutive element of the State
   - Object of State sovereignty
   - Subject of rights towards the State
   - Creator of the State’s will

Question 5

What is citizenship, and how can citizenship occur?

Answer 5

Citizenship is a certain condition of being bound to the State with certain rights, obligations, and duties.

1. Naturalization
2. Marriage
3. Birth (ius sanguinis; ius soli)