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This contribution aims to show, after preliminary terminological details, that a relationship initially existed between the representation of interests between states and the legal status of permanent neutrality, within a rather informal process. This supposed a context of war in which belligerents had broken off diplomatic relations. The first significant case of such a process appeared with the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and was confirmed during the two World Wars of the twentieth century. However, the relation of protection and representation of interests remains today largely based on the mandate of the protecting power–on a bilateral and contractual relationship rather than on an uncertain international custom and a deficient conventional law.