The majority of the general public doesn’t understand how is it possible legally for a deposed sovereign and his heirs to retain the rights, titles, and legal powers to bestow honors.
A State is not a territory and it’s not the people living in it. It’s a juridical person who “manages” and governs that territory and that people.
In international law there are two different sovereignties that ideally would be exercised by the same juridical person: the “de facto” (in fact) and the “de jure” (by right, or by law).
It’s accepted by international jurisprudence that when a sovereign is illegally dispossessed of his throne by the use of force and without renunciation, he retains the “de jure” (by right, by law) sovereign rights and the usurper regime has the “de facto” (in fact) control of the people and territory.
The sovereign goes to exile keeping the headship of that juridical person while the usurper regime forms a new one in order to be able to manage the usurped territory and people. That’s applied to both monarchies and republics, the only difference is that the former is hereditary and the alluded “de jure” rights are passed to the legitimate heirs according to the particular laws of succession of that family by “ius sanguinis” (law of blood).
We will try to explain here using a simple analogy using the well-known company Apple as an example. Let’s for a moment pretend that Apple is a family company owned by one person.
The company is not the buildings or stores that it occupies. Apple also is not its employees, but the juridical person that manages everything.
Let’s imagine that for any reason, the owner decides to sell all the buildings and stores and fires all the employees, just keeping the company open. The owner still owns the rights over the brand, logos, products, etc the owner can still name people to the board or to any position as he pleases. Even if they no longer have any physical place or people working for them.
If the owner keeps the company open and pays the taxes and government fees, the company can remain open indefinitely. When the owner dies, his heirs can choose to continue with the company open or not. The heirs can decide whether to use the copyrighted material (immaterial inheritance) or not. As long as the laws of that particular country are respected (fees, taxes, etc.) it’s the owner’s (or the heirs’) prerogative to continue with the company open or not, even without a physical place and employees.
According to international law, that’s exactly what happens with a deposed sovereign. He (or she) – or the lawful heirs – remains the head of the juridical person “ad eternum” (forever) regardless of a territory or a people.
All the symbols, orders, titles, etc. also remain as the juridical person’s immaterial inheritance.
That exists legally regardless of recognition from any country and also regardless of the domestic law where the deposed sovereign and his heirs currently live. A country can only recognize or not the exercise of these rights in its territory (i.e. use of titles, the bestowal of honors, etc.)
THE ROYAL HERALD 