Glossary and abbreviations

The words and abbreviations used on these websites, with their meaning. They start at the top, with what a State is, and go down to people, organizations and the offices they hold.

States

State — A country in the legal sense. It has a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and the capacity to enter into relations with other States (Montevideo Convention, 1933, article 1). A State is a legal person under international law, and every organ of it is part of it. Example: France; the United States of America; the People’s Republic of China.

country — The everyday word for a land and its people. A country is not always a State: Scotland is a country within the United Kingdom, which is the State.

nation — A people that shares an identity, a history or a language, with or without a State of its own. Example: The Scottish nation, within the United Kingdom.

sovereignty — A State’s supreme authority over its territory, and its independence from other States.

recognition — One State’s act of accepting another entity as a State, or a government as the government of a State. It matters in practice, but under the Montevideo Convention (article 3) a State exists whether or not others recognize it. Example: In January 1964, France recognized the government of the People’s Republic of China as the government of China.

Law

law — The whole body of binding rules of a place: its constitution, treaties, statutes, regulations and case law. In French, « une loi » is one statute, while « le droit » is the law as a whole. Example: French law; the law of the European Convention on Human Rights.

statute — One written law passed by a legislature. Example: In the United States, an Act of Congress such as the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; in France, « une loi » voted by Parliament.

constitution — The supreme law of a State: it founds the State’s institutions and limits their powers. Example: The U.S. Constitution creates Congress (Article I) and the office of President (Article II).

regulation — A rule made by the executive branch under the authority of a statute. In European Union law, a « regulation » is instead a binding EU act that applies directly in every member State. Example: U.S. federal regulations, published in the Code of Federal Regulations; in France, « décrets » and « arrêtés ».

case law — The decisions of courts. In common-law countries such as the United States, they bind later courts (precedent); in France, they guide later courts without binding them. Example: The judgments of the European Court of Human Rights interpreting the Convention.

treaty, convention — A written agreement between States, binding them under international law. Example: The European Convention on Human Rights (1950).

Persons and organizations

person (in law) — Whoever the law gives rights and duties: a natural person or a legal person.

natural person — A human being, in the eyes of the law. Example: Donald J. Trump.

legal person, legal entity — An organization the law treats as a person: it can own property, sign contracts, sue and be sued in its own name. Example: McDonald’s Corporation; a French association declared under the law of 1901; a State.

organization — Any organized body acting under its own name: a company, an association, an NGO, a public body or an international organization. It is either a legal person or a part of one. Example: McDonald’s Corporation; the association Anticor; the FBI; the Council of Europe.

organizational unit (department) — A part of an organization (a department, division, bureau or service), described as an organization of its own and attached to its parent organization. It has no legal personality of its own unless the law grants it one (in France, an « établissement public »). Each organization arranges its units in its own organizational chart, which changes over time. Example: The FBI, within the U.S. Department of Justice; the legal service of the association Anticor.

organ of a State — A body or person whose acts count as the acts of the State itself (International Law Commission, Articles on State Responsibility, 2001, article 4). The legal person that answers for it is the State. Example: The FBI, for the United States; a French court, for France.

international organization — An organization created by a treaty between States, with its own legal personality. Example: The Council of Europe, in Strasbourg; the European Court of Human Rights was set up under one of its treaties, the European Convention on Human Rights.

Offices

office (position) — A position that exists apart from whoever holds it. Example: President of the United States; U.S. Ambassador to China; Corporate Secretary of McDonald’s Corporation.

officeholder — The natural person who holds an office for a period of time. Example: Donald J. Trump, President of the United States since 20 January 2025.

tenure (term of office) — The period during which an officeholder holds an office, from one date to another.

official capacity / personal capacity — Acting as the holder of an office, or acting as oneself: the same human being, two roles. In U.S. law, a claim against an official in their official capacity is in substance a claim against the government.

Cases

party (to a case) — A litigant: the one who brings a case, or the one it is brought against. At the European Court of Human Rights, the parties are the applicant and the respondent State. Not everyone mentioned in a case is a party.

Words used on these websites

advocacy — Working in public for a cause.

watchdog — A body, or a website, that monitors an institution and exposes its abuses.

advocacy project (not yet registered) — An undertaking for a cause, run by one or more people, that is not registered as a legal person. On these websites, such projects are listed with the organizations. Example: ECtHR Watch, an advocacy project, not yet registered, run by Vincent Le Corre.

pseudonym — A stable stand-in for a person’s real name, used to protect them; the key back to the real name is kept apart. Newspapers mark it « not their real name ». Example: The « Subject » names, each with a number, used on these websites.

alias — Another name for the same person or organization, used alongside the main one; an alias may change while the person stays the same.

Abbreviations

CIA — Central Intelligence Agency: the independent U.S. agency for foreign intelligence.

DGSI — Direction générale de la sécurité intérieure: France’s domestic intelligence service, under the Ministry of the Interior.

DoD — U.S. Department of Defense: the federal executive department in charge of the U.S. armed forces.

DOJ — U.S. Department of Justice: the federal executive department that enforces federal law; the FBI is part of it.

ECHR — European Convention on Human Rights (1950): the treaty of the Council of Europe that the Court applies. « ECHR » is also used for the Court itself; these websites write « ECtHR » for the Court.

ECtHR — European Court of Human Rights: the international court in Strasbourg that rules on complaints that a State has breached the European Convention on Human Rights.

FBI — Federal Bureau of Investigation: the main federal law-enforcement and domestic intelligence agency of the United States, part of the Department of Justice.

NGO — Non-governmental organization: an organization independent of governments, not run for profit, working for a cause.

OIG — Office of the Inspector General: the independent office that audits and investigates within a U.S. federal department or agency. Example: The OIG of the U.S. Department of Defense.

PRC — People’s Republic of China.

RICO — Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act: Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968), the U.S. federal statute against organized crime; it allows criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits.

SEC — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: the independent federal agency that oversees the U.S. securities markets.