Legal recognition

Legal recognition of a status or fact in a jurisdiction is a formal acknowledgment of it as being true, valid, legal, or worthy of consideration, and may involve approval or the granting of rights. For example, a nation or territory may require a person to hold a professional qualification to practice an occupation, such as medicine. While any establishment may grant a qualification, only recognized qualifications from recognized establishments entitle the holder to practice the restricted occupation. Qualifications from another jurisdiction may or may not be recognized. This way, the state controls and regulates access; for example, physicians of unknown competence may not practice, and it may be desired to protect the employment of local people. Another example is that any person can undergo a form of marriage with anyone or anything, and claim to be married. However, a marriage that is recognized affords the participant certain rights and obligations, e.g., a possible reduction in taxes, an obligation not to abandon the spouse, etc. Hypothetically, a person who claims to be married to a horse has no rights and no obligations and is subject to legal sanctions for any attempt to p