{{Short description|Plurality of persons considered as a whole}}
{{About|the collective usage "the people"|the collective usage "a people"|Ethnicity{{!}}Ethnic group|a general population|Commoner{{!}}Common people|humans as a species|Human|other uses|}}
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The term "'''the people'''" refers to the [[public]] or [[Common people|common mass of people]] of a [[polity]].<ref name=":0" /> As such it is a [[concept]] of [[human rights law]], [[international law]] as well as [[constitutional law]], particularly used for claims of [[popular sovereignty]]. In contrast, '''a people''' is any plurality of [[person]]s considered as a whole. Used in [[politics]] and [[law]], the term "a people" refers to the [[collective]] or [[community]] of an [[ethnic group]] or [[nation]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Definition of People |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/people |website=Collins Dictionary |date=13 February 2020 }}</ref>

==Concepts==
=== Legal ===
{{Further|Popular sovereignty}}

[[File:La Liberté guidant le peuple - Eugène Delacroix - Musée du Louvre Peintures RF 129 - après restauration 2024.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Liberty Leading the People]]'', 1830 by [[Eugène Delacroix]]]]

Chapter One, Article One of the [[Charter of the United Nations]] states that "peoples" have the right to [[self-determination]].<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter1.shtml |title=Charter of the United Nations: Chapter I: Purposes and Principles |publisher=United Nations |access-date=22 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508155844/http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter1.shtml |archive-date=8 May 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Though the mere status as peoples and the right to self-determination, as for example in the case of [[Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples|Indigenous peoples]] (''peoples'', as in all groups of indigenous people, not merely all indigenous persons as in ''indigenous people''),{{Clarify|date=May 2024}} does not automatically provide for [[independence|independent]] [[sovereignty]] and therefore [[secession]].<ref name="Shrinkhal 2021 pp. 71–82">{{cite journal | last=Shrinkhal | first=Rashwet | title="Indigenous sovereignty" and right to self-determination in international law: a critical appraisal | journal=AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=17 | issue=1 | year=2021 | issn=1177-1801 | doi=10.1177/1177180121994681 | pages=71–82| s2cid=232264306 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>See the following:
* {{Cite book|title=International law|url=https://archive.org/details/internationallaw00shaw_380|url-access=limited|first1=Malcolm Nathan|last1=Shaw|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/internationallaw00shaw_380/page/n320 178]|quote=Article 1 of the [[Montevideo Convention]] on Rights and Duties of States, 1 lays down the most widely accepted formulation of the criteria of statehood in international law. It notes that the state as an international person should possess the following qualifications: '(a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with other states'}}
* {{Cite book|title=Perspectives on international law|editor1-first=Nandasiri|editor1-last=Jasentuliyana|publisher=Kluwer Law International|year=1995|page=20|quote=So far as States are concerned, the traditional definitions provided for in the Montevideo Convention remain generally accepted.}}</ref> Indeed, judge [[Ivor Jennings]] identified the inherent problems in the right of "peoples" to self-determination, as it requires pre-defining a said "people".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mayall |first1=James |editor1-last=Breuilly |editor1-first=John |title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Nationalism |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford | isbn=978-0-19-876820-3 | page=542 | chapter=International Society, State Sovereignty, and National Self-Determination}}</ref>

=== Constitutional ===
Both the [[Roman Republic]] and the [[Roman Empire]] used the [[Latin]] term {{lang|la|[[SPQR|Senatus Populusque Romanus]]}}, (the Senate and People of Rome). This term was fixed abbreviated (SPQR) to Roman legionary standards, and even after the [[Roman Emperor]]s achieved a state of total personal [[autocracy]], they continued to wield their power in the name of the Senate and People of Rome.

The term [[People's Republic]], used since [[late modernity]], is a name used by [[sovereign state|states]], which particularly identify [[constitution]]ally with a form of [[socialism]].

=== Judicial ===
In [[criminal law]], in certain jurisdictions, criminal prosecutions are brought in the name of ''the People''. Several U.S. states, including [[California]], [[Illinois]], and [[New York (state)|New York]], use this style.<ref>See, e.g., ''[[People v. Anderson|California v. Anderson]]'' 6 Cal. 3d 628; 493 P.2d 880; 100 Cal. Rptr. 152; 1972 Cal. LEXIS 154 (1972)</ref> Citations outside the jurisdictions in question usually substitute the name of the state for the words "the People" in the case captions.<ref>See generally, ''[[Bluebook|The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation]]'', rule 10.</ref> Four states&nbsp;— [[Massachusetts]], [[Virginia]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[Kentucky]]&nbsp;— refer to themselves as ''the [[Commonwealth (U.S. state)|Commonwealth]]'' in case captions and legal process.  Other states, such as [[Indiana]], typically refer to themselves as ''the State'' in case captions and legal process. Outside the United States, criminal trials in [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] and the [[Philippines]] are prosecuted in the name of the people of their respective states.

The political theory underlying this format is that criminal prosecutions are brought in the name of the [[sovereignty|sovereign]]; thus, in these [[U.S. states]], the "people" are judged to be the sovereign, even as in the [[United Kingdom]] and other dependencies of the [[British monarchy|British Crown]], criminal prosecutions are typically brought in the name of [[the Crown]]. "The people" identifies the entire body of the [[citizen]]s of a jurisdiction invested with political power or gathered for political purposes.<ref>''[[Black's Law Dictionary]]'', 5th ed., "People".</ref>

=== Political ===
In China, definitions of the people ({{lang-zh|s=人民|p=}}) by the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) have shifted throughout its history. At the [[2nd National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|2nd National Congress]] held in 1922, it included the proletariat, peasants, and the bourgeoisie. Usage of the term dropped following the [[Shanghai Massacre (1927)|Shanghai Massacre]] in 1927, with the term largely being replaced by the term masses ({{lang-zh|s=民眾|p=}}). The use of the term people increased again in 1935 following the establishment of the [[Second United Front]] with the [[Kuomintang]]. During the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]], the people as defined by the ''Cihai'' dictionary, included "all the classes, strata, and social groups that participated in the resistance against the Japanese invasion". After the continuation of the [[Chinese Civil War]], it was redefined to "the people were all the classes, strata, and social groups that opposed imperialism, the bureaucratic bourgeoisie, the landlord class, and the reactionary faction of the Kuomintang that represented these classes". The term was further redefined following the 1949 [[proclamation of the People's Republic of China]]. The [[Charter of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference|Charter of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference]] defines the people as "socialist laborers, builders of socialist undertakings, patriots who support socialism, and patriots who support the unity of the motherland and are committed to the [[great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation]]".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-28 |title=The People |url=https://chinamediaproject.org/the_ccp_dictionary/the-people/ |access-date=2026-05-04 |website=China Media Project |language=en-US}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography|Law|Politics}}
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* [[Civitas]]
* [[Collective]]
* [[Community]]
* [[General will]]
* [[List of contemporary ethnic groups]]
* [[List of indigenous peoples]]
* [[Volk]]
* [[National identity]]
* [[Nationality]]
* [[Preamble to the United States Constitution]]
* [[Public]]
* [[Republic]]
* [[Republicanism]]
* [[Democracy]]
* [[People are the masters of their own country]]
* [[People's republic]]
* [[Populism]]
* [[Society]]
* [[Vox populi]]

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==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Wiktionary inline}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:People| ]]
[[Category:Humans]]
[[Category:English nouns]]

[[de:Staatsvolk]]