Early English and British nationality law

This article concerns the history of British nationality law.

British nationality law has its origins in medieval England. There has always been a distinction in English law between the subjects of the monarch and aliens: the monarch's subjects owed him allegiance, and included those born in his dominions (natural-born subjects) and those who later gave him their allegiance (naturalised subjects or denizens).

A summary of early English common law is provided by Sir William Blackstone, who wrote about the law in 1765-69. Natural-born subjects were originally those born within the dominion of the crown (jus soli). Blackstone describes how various statutes extended the rights of the children of subjects born abroad, until "all children, born out of the king's ligeance, whose fathers were natural-born subjects, are now natural-born subjects themselves, to all intents and purposes, without any exception; unless their said fathers were attainted, or banished beyond sea, for high treason; or were then in the service of a prince at enmity with Great Britain."

In 1603 the crowns of England and Scotland were united in the individual of James VI and I, in what is known as the Union of the Crowns. In 1701, following some disagreement about the rules of succession to the crown, the English parliament passed the Alien Act 1705, providing that Scottish nationals would have alien status in the realm of England. However, this was superseded by the Act of Union 1707, which united the realms of England and Scotland.

When the British Empire came into existence, the dominion of the crown expanded. British subjects included not only persons within the United Kingdom but also those throughout the British Empire (the British Dominion). This included both the colonies and the self-governing dominions, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and Newfoundland. Note that the "dominions" of the Crown include not only Dominions but also colonies.

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