Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/175

 NATURALIZATION 167 expatriation and the renunciation of allegiance is now recognized in the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Swe- den, and Norway ; but in some of these coun- tries it is subject to the condition that the na- tive has fulfilled the obligations imposed by his former allegiance, such as military service. In Great Britain, prior to 1844, naturaliza- tion could be effected only by act of parlia- ment. Originally it conferred all the rights of a natural-born subject, but by an act dictated by the jealous policy of the government upon the accession of the house of Orange, passed in 1701, it was declared that no one, though naturalized, should be of the privy council or a member of parliament, or hold any office civil or military, or be allowed to receive any grant of land from the crown. As before stated, the king might grant letters of deniza- tion conferring certain limited rights, in the exercise of his royal prerogative. In this state the law remained until the reign of Vic- toria. Great desire having been expressed for more liberal enactments, the subject was re- ferred to a committee of parliament, who made an elaborate investigation, and a law was passed in 1844 defining the privileges of aliens upon some questionable points, and pro- viding for the naturalization of all aliens re- siding in or coming to Great Britain with in- tent to settle. The provisions of this act need not be enumerated, as they were superseded by a more comprehensive act passed in 1870, which repealed a number of the preceding laws. By the latter act any alien who has re- sided for five years in the United Kingdom, or has been for that period in the service of the crown, and intends after naturalization to con- tinue in that service or to reside in the United Kingdom, may, upon producing such evidence of his residence, service, and intention as shall be satisfactory to one of her majesty's prin- cipal secretaries of state, receive from such secretary a certificate of naturalization, which shall take effect after the alien has taken the oath of allegiance; upon which he shall be entitled to all the rights and be subject to all the obligations of a natural-born subject, but shall not within the limits of the foreign state of which he was a subject be deemed a British subject, unless he has ceased to be a -subject of that state by its laws or by treaty. The secretary of state may grant or refuse the certificate without giving any reasons, and from his decision there is no appeal ; and he may grant a special certificate of naturalization to any person, in respect to whose nationality as a British subject there is any doubt, which is not to be an admission that he was not pre- viously a British subject. This act contains many important provisions in respect to alien- age and expatriation. It provides that aliens may acquire, hold, and dispose of real and per- sonal property in the same manner in all re- spects as naturalized British subjects, and that it may be derived from or through them in all re- spects as from or through natural-born subjects. This however does not extend to property out of the United Kingdom, nor confer upon them any municipal, parliamentary, or other fran- chises, or entitle them to hold office. It de- clares that any British subject in a foreign state, who was not under any disability, and who has voluntarily become naturalized in that state, shall cease to be a British subject ; that any person who by his having been born in the dominion of the queen is a British sub- ject, but who at the time of his birth was also by its laws, and is still, a subject of a foreign state, may cease to be a British subject by ma- king a declaration of his alienage in the pres- ence of any diplomatic or consular officer in the service of the queen, or if such person is in the United Kingdom before a justice of the peace, or if he is elsewhere in her majesty's dominions before any officer authorized to ad- minister an oath ; and that where a convention to that effect has been entered into by the queen with a foreign state, any subject or cit- izen of that state who has been naturalized as a British subject may in like manner make a declaration of alienage, upon which he shall cease to be a British subject, and shall be thereafter regarded as a citizen or subject of the country to which he originally belonged. Under this act also a married woman is to be deemed a subject of the country of which her husband is a subject. If she is a widow and was born a British subject, she may obtain a certificate of admission to British nationality. The children of British subjects naturalized in a foreign country, who during infancy became resident of the country where their father or mother was naturalized, and who according to the laws of the country became naturalized therein, are to be deemed citizens or subjects of that country and not British subjects : and when the father, or the mother if a widow, has been readmitted to British nationality, the children, if they have become residents during infancy in the British dominion with the father or the mother, resume their position of British subjects ; and if the father, or the mother if a widow, become naturalized, the children are deemed British subjects if they during infancy become residents with their father or their mother in any part of the United Kingdom. And finally all laws made in the British co- lonial possessions respecting naturalization are to have the authority of law, but are subject to be confirmed or disallowed by the queen like other colonial laws. In the various Brit- ish colonies naturalization is either granted by the governor, or by a special act or ordinance of the colonial legislature or council, in each instance, or it is regulated by a general local law. It is granted by the governor in Ja- maica, the Bahamas, Antigua, Turk's and Oai- cos islands, Newfoundland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand ; by a special act or ordinance in each case in West-