States, particularly under the dualist view of international law, are the primary subjects of international law. States have the capacity to make agreements and treaties and to make claims for breaches of international law. States have rights and obligations under international law. In short, states are the principal entities having legal personality in the international legal order.Under both the Restatement and the Montevideo Convention of 1933, a state is defined as "an entity that has a defined territory and a permanent population, under the control of its own government, and that engages in, or has the capacity to engage in, formal relations with other such entities.
國家 在國際法二元論的觀念下是國際法最主要的主體。國家有能力去締約並且對於違反國際事務的申請請求,國家有義務與權利在國際體系下運作,簡而言之,在國際法律的架構下國家為國際法上最根本的主體並且擁有法律上的人格權。在Montevideo Convention of 1933,國家被定義為一個擁有領土、人口、自治政府與有能力與其他國家實體交涉的實體