SOVEREIGNTY

sovereignty  (sahv-[<<schwa>>-]rin-tee).1.  Supreme  dominion,  authority,  or  rule.  [Cases: International Law    8. C.J.S. International Law §§ 25–28.]

popular sovereignty.A system of government in which policy choices reflect the preferences of the majority of citizens.

state sovereignty.See STATE SOVEREIGNTY.

2.  The  supreme  political authority  of  an  independent  state.  3.  The  state  itself.“It is  well to
[distinguish]  the  senses in  which  the  word  Sovereignty  is used.  In  the  ordinary  popular  sense  it
means Supremacy, the right to demand obedience. Although the idea of actual power is not absent,
the prominent idea is that of some sort of title to exercise control. An ordinary layman would call
that person (or body of persons) Sovereign in a State who is obeyed because he is acknowledged
to stand at the top, whose will must be expected to prevail, who can get his own way, and make
others  go  his,  because  such  is  the  practice  of  the  country.  Etymologically  the  word  of  course
means merely superiority, and familiar usage applies it in monarchies to the monarch, because he
stands  first in  the  State, be  his real  power  great  or  small.” James Bryce, Studies  in  History  and
Jurisprudence 504–05 (1901).

external  sovereignty.The   power   of   dealing   on  a   nation’s  behalf   with   other   national
governments.

internal  sovereignty.The  power  enjoyed  by  a  governmental  entity  of  a  sovereign  state,
including affairs within its own territory and powers related to the exercise of external sovereignty.

[Blacks Law 8th]