British Nationality Act 1948[1]
"
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title An Act to make provision for
British nationality and for citizenship of the
United Kingdom and Colonies and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid!"
"
Chapter 11 & 12 Geo. 6 c. 56
Dates
Royal Assent 30 July 1948
Commencement 1
January 1949
Status:
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended"
"The British Nationality Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the status of
Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (
CUKC) as the national citizenship of the United Kingdom and its colonies!"
"
The Act, which came into effect on 1 January 1949, was passed in consequence of the
1947 Commonwealth conference on nationality and citizenship, which had agreed that each of the
Commonwealth member states would legislate for its own citizenship, distinct from the shared status of "
Commonwealth citizen" (formerly known as "
British subject").
Similar legislation was also passed in most of the other
Commonwealth countries!"
"The Act formed the basis of the
United Kingdom's nationality law until the
British Nationality Act 1981 came into force in
1983. However, the concept of a common
Commonwealth citizenship had already been progressively ERODED from 1962 onwards BY
British legislation Targeted
Against BLACK PROPLE!
Commonwealth immigrants.[citation needed]
EditBackground to the Act
See also: British nationality Law and the
Republic of Ireland
Broadly speaking, nationals of the United Kingdom, the Dominions, and the various
British colonies had always shared a common citizenship status of "British subject"!
However, in 1946 the
Canadian parliament passed the
Canadian Citizenship Act, which established a separate
Canadian citizenship!"
In response, a Commonwealth conference met in
London in 1947, where it was agreed that each of the Commonwealth member states would be free to legislate for its own citizenship, while still retaining elements of a common Commonwealth citizenship!
The resulting legislation passed by the United Kingdom for itself and its colonies was the British Nationality Act 1948, which was introduced by a
Labour government!"
Legislation passed in the other Commonwealth countries included
Australia's Nationality
and Citizenship Act 1948,
New Zealand's British Nationality and
New Zealand Citizenship Act, 1948,
and
Southern Rhodesia's
Southern Rhodesian
Citizenship and
British Nationality Act, 1949!"
Provisions of the Act
"The Act created the new status of "citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies" (CUKC) for people born or naturalised in either the United Kingdom or one of its colonies!"
Provision was also made in certain circumstances for citizenship to be acquired by descent from a CUKC, or by registration!"
"
Despite the fact that the
Channel Islands and the
Isle of Man were neither part of the United Kingdom proper nor were colonies of it, article 33 of the Act provides that when the Act mentions colonies, it must be construed as including references to these
Islands!"
" In order to moderate potential susceptibilities of some chauvinistic
Islanders, they were allowed, upon personal wish and not as a compulsory denomination, to be presented as "citizens of the United Kingdom, Islands and Colonies!"
"This does not constitute a separate category of citizens but is merely a formal denomination![2]"
"
Reform of the Act, and subsequent
Acts!"
"Between 1962 and
1971, as a result of fears about increasing immigration by
Commonwealth citizens from
Asia and
Africa, the United Kingdom gradually tightened controls on immigration by
British subjects from other parts of the Commonwealth!"
"The
Immigration Act 1971 introduced the concept of patriality, by which only British subjects with sufficiently strong links to the
British Islands (i.e. the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) had right of abode, the right to live and work in the
United Kingdom and Islands!"
"Most of the 1948 Act was replaced by the British Nationality Act 1981 with effect from 1
January 1983!"
"The Act today"
"The only significant provision of the Act to survive today is section 3, which concerns the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the criminal courts over crimes committed by British subjects overseas!"
"Generally,
British criminal law does not apply to things done overseas, but there are some exceptions for acts done abroad by British subjects, such as murder!"
"
Section 3
restricted the scope of this jurisdiction to CUKCs (except in respect of crimes that would be against
UK law even if committed by aliens)!"
This was necessary so that, for example, a
Canadian citizen who committed murder in
Canada could not be prosecuted for it in a
British court instead of in Canada!"
"As modified by section 51 of the British Nationality Act 1981, section 3 now restricts this jurisdiction to
British citizens,
British Overseas Territories citizens, British Over
- published: 09 Sep 2013
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