A protectorate is a state under the protection of some larger power. The protected states retain all powers not specifically resigned.

"States under protectors - protectorates - usually possess all powers not specifically resigned. States fully sovereign may demand, (1) that states under protectors afford reasonable protection to the subjects and to the property of subjects of fully sovereign states, and (2) that the protecting state use reasonable measures to give effect to the protection which it has assumed. Just how much responsibility the protecting state has depends upon the degree of protection exercised and assumed. The protectorate of Great Britain over the South African Republic by the agreement of 1884 was of a very moderate form. The right to veto within a certain time any treaty made with a foreign state, other than the Orange Free State and native princes, constituted practically the only restriction on the independence of the Republic. Great Britain has several other protectorates in Africa, over which the degree of authority varies. In many instances protectorates easily pass into colonies, as in the case of Madagascar, which Great Britain recognized as under French protection in 1890, which protection the Queen of Madagascar accepted in October, 1895, and in August, 1896, Madagascar was declared a French colony."4