New states may come into existence either by the peaceable or violent division of an existing state, or by the union of two or more small states to form a larger one. An illustration of the first method is found in the recent separation of Norway and Sweden; of the second in the securing of the independence of the United States; and of the third in the consolidation of the various German states into the German Empire.

A new state does not come fully within the protection of the principles of International Law until it has been recognized by the previously existing states. The time and method of according recognition to a new state is left to each existing state to determine for itself.