Page:Halsbury Laws of England v1 1907.pdf/528

 —— Aliens.

306

Part Sect.



II.

— Rights Sect.

1.

Alien Friends. In general.

and Duties of

1.

Stjb-Sect.

1.

Alien Friends,

At Common Law.

An

alien friend has no legal right to enter British territory (/i), but while in this country he owes a temporary and local allegiance to the Crown to the same extent as a British subject, which allegiance is founded on the protection he enjoys for his own person, Thus he his family and effects, during the time of that residence. may be convicted of treason (i), is subject to a writ of ne exeat regno (j), and is also amenable to all municipal laws. This applies equally to any alien, whether he be an alien friend or an alien enemy resident

674.

here under the protection of the King As

to personal property.

Aliens.

{k).

675. At common law {I), and, since 1844, by statute (m), an alien can acquire, hold, and dispose of goods, money, and any other personal estate, other than chattels real such as leaseholds, with the single exception of a British ship (n), as freely as a natural-born British subject; but shares in a company owning a British ship may be held by an alien, and even if some, or even perhaps all, of signatories of the memorandum of association are aliens, registration of the company cannot be refused (o). Previously to 1870 an alien could hold no real estate, and this He could, however, take until an rule extended to leaseholds {p). but on a return to the inquisition was instituted by the Crown inquisition being made, which was termed office found, the Crown An alien could not, however, take by was entitled to take (q). operation of law; thus an alien woman married to a British subject was not entitled to dower (r), and an alien could not be a tenant by the curtesy, but since 1844 every person then born or thereafter to be born out of the King's dominions of a mother being a naturalborn subject is capable of taking real estate by devise, purchase, inheritance or succession (s).

the As

to real

property.



(h)

Mmgrove

v.

Chmi Teeong Toy, [1891] A. C. 272. v. A.-G. of Natal, [1907] A. 0.

See De Jager

326, where it was held that an alien resident in British territory owes allegiance to the Crown, and continues to do so although the country of which he is a subject declares war against this country and enters into military occupation of that part of British territory in which he resides if, therefore, during the temporary evacuation of that territory by the British forces the alien takes up arms for the invaders, he is guilty of high treason. {j) De Carriere v. Be Galonne (1799), 4 Yes. 577. (k) 1 East, P. C. p. 52 1 Hale's History of the Pleas of the Crown, p. 59 Foster's Discourse on High' Treason, p. 185, ss. 2, 3. See title Personal Property. (/) 1 Bl. Com. 360. (m) Naturalization Act, 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 66), s. 14. [n) Under the old Navigation Acts, 1773 (13 Geo. 3, c. 26), and 1825 (6 Geo. 4, c. 110), s. 13, preserved bvthe Naturalization Act, 1870 (33 Yict. c. 14), and the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Yict. c. 60), s. 1. (o) R, V. Arnaud (1846), 9 Q. B. 806; see Janson v. Driefontein Consolidated Mines, Ltd., [1902] A. C. 484, per Lord Macnaghten, at p. 497. {p) 1 Bl. Com. 360; Co. Litt. 2 b. {i)





{q) (r) -

(s)

Ibid.

'

Count de Wall's Case (1848), 6 Moo. P. C. C, 216. Naturalization Act, 1844 (7 & 8 Yict. c. 66), s. 3. See

AND Chattels Eeal.

title

Eeal Property