大英國協與國際法

The Commonwealth of Nations and International Law

目前國協是一個由53 個獨立國家自由結盟的國際組織，其會員國大多為前大英帝國的殖民地或附屬國，雖然形式上共同奉英國君主為國協之象徵性元首，但是在其國家領域內仍各保有內政與外交事務的管轄權。會員國之間享有派遣使節與為締約進行個別談判的權利。彼此可以是國際爭端中相互衝突的主體，也可自由地與非國協國家建立邦交。由於會員國間的關係本已受到國際法規範，國協之組織與內部規則發展因此以信念或則等「軟法」為主，正因國協會員國有如此於一般國際組織成員的自由，國協被描述為一個「開放的」邦聯制國家聯盟。本文嘗試從國際法的國家論角度，探討國協會員國的國家間關係。

The nowadays Commonwealth comprising of 53 independent States is an international organization in which State allied together freely. Most of its members were colonies or dependent states of British Empire. Although those States nominally honor the King or Queen of United Kingdom as their symbolic head of state, they in reality reserve powers to manage their domestic and foreign affairs within their border of jurisdiction. There are also rights to send ambassadors and conduct negotiations with one another among members. Those States not only may be subjects among which have conflicting interests and disputes, they are also entitled to voluntarily establish diplomatic relations with other States that are not members. Since relations among members have been governed by the international laws, the development of organization structure and interior rules of commonwealth are therefore governed mainly by conviction or other “soft laws”. Yet because members of commonwealth are as free as those of general international organization, the commonwealth is described as an “open” allied confederation of States. This article is aimed to discuss the foreign relations among those members of commonwealth from the perspective of international law.