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Three Kinds of a De Facto Government
- In a proper legal sense, a government that gets possession and control of, or usurps, by force or by the voice of the majority, the rightful legal governments and maintains itself against the will of the latter, such as the government of England under the Commonwealth, first by Parliament and later by Cromwell the Protector.
- One that is established and maintained by military forces who invade and occupy a territory of the enemy in the course of war, and which is denominated a government of paramount force as the cases of Castine in Maine which was reduced to British possession in the war of 1812, and Tampico, Mexico, occupied during the war with Mexico, by the troops of the US.
- One that is established as an independent government by the inhabitants of a country who rise in insurrection against the parent state such as the government of the Southern Confederacy.
***But there is another description of a government called also by publicists as government de facto but which might, perhaps be more aptly denominated as a government of paramount force. It is characterized by:
- That its existence is maintained by active military power with the territories, and against the rightful authority of an established and lawful government
- That while it exists it necessarily be obeyed in civil matters by private residents who, by acts of obedience rendered in submission to such force, do not become responsible, or wrongdoers, for those acts, though not warranted by laws of the rightful government.
Taken from Co Kim Cham vs Valdez Tan Keh.
