Caglar v. Billingham (Inspector of Taxes) and Telated Appeals

Abstract

States — Criteria for Statehood — Montevideo Convention, 1933 — Independence in external relations — Entity not recognized as a State by any other State but one — Whether possessing functional independence — Whether meeting criteria of Statehood — Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus — Establishment in 1983 — Condemnation by United Nations Security Council

Recognition — States — Whether declaratory or constitutive — Effects of recognition and non-recognition — Collective non-recognition — Whether preventing entity from becoming a State — Effects of recognition in municipal law — United Kingdom tax legislation — Reference to “foreign State” — Whether meaning State recognized by the United Kingdom — Cyprus Act 1960

Nationality — Relevant law — Whether individuals Commonwealth citizens or not — Inhabitants of northern Cyprus — Whether nationals of the Republic of Cyprus — British Nationality Act 1981 — Nationality laws of the Republic of Cyprus — Nationality legislation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus — Which law to be given effect by courts in the United Kingdom

Relationship of international law and municipal law — Conduct of external relations — Whether courts should defer to the views of the Executive — Whether foreign entity to be treated as a State — Unequivocal denial of Statehood by Executive — Significance of dealings between Executive and foreign entity — Whether government-to-government dealings — Act of State and non-justiciability — Principle that courts will not question the validity of laws of a recognized foreign State — The law of England