Page 111 - Law of Peace, Volume ,

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A claim . . . shall not be allowed unless the property upon which the differences exist in the particular practices of individual
claim is based was owned by a national of the United States on the date states. These multifarious practices are consonant with the
of. . . taking thereof and .. . continuously thereafter until the date of fd- principles of international law in that it is well recognized
ing. . . .4
that one of the aspects of territorial sovereignty is the
With reference to this statutory provision, the House power to determine who, by what method and according
Committee which formulated it commented: to which standards an alien may acquire nationality.
This section gives statutory recopnition to the basic requirement of in- b. The most important and commonly encountered
ternational law governing espousable international claims, which is that method of acquiring nationality is that process known as
no claim can be so regaded unless the claim was continuously owned by "naturalization." The extent to which a state may deliine-
a national of the claiming state .. .from the date of loss to the date the
ate the requirements placed upon aliens seeking its na-
claim is filed. 5
tionality is illustrated by the comprehensive and complex
Thus, the United States, in its municipal law, has given provisions covering this subject in the United States
formal effect to "one of the best established principles of Code. 10 This formal process of naturalization by means of
international law." 6 However, . . ."it is erroneous to at- a voluntary petition may be accomplished in proceedings
tempt to establish rules of international law by methods of that are either judicial in nature, as in the United States, or
comparative law, or even to declare that rules of munici- that are purely administrative.
pal law of different states which show a certain degree of 6-4. Loss of Nationality. a. As nationality may be
uniformity are rules of international law." 7 Thus, these gained, so may it be lost. The two primary methods by
legal concepts which bear the label "nationality" and which the loss of nationality occurs are expatriation and
which concern the law of more than one nation fail on denationalization. Expatriation consists of a formal renun-
close inspection to involve considerations of international ciation of the possessed nationality by an individual who
law. has left the state whose nationality he possesses and has or
6-3. Acquisition of Nationality. a. An individual may is in a position to acquire another nationality. The renun-
acquire nationality either originally, that is through the cir- ciation is the explicit announcement by the individual by
cumstances of this birth, or derivatively, by some action which he sheds his possessed nationality. The formal con-
after birth. sent of the state, whose nationality is renounced, to the in-
(1) Original acquisition of nationality. Two princi- dividual's renunciation is known as a release.
ples serve as the basis for the original acquisition of na- Denationalization, on the other hand, may be defined
tionality: jus soli and jus sanguinis. 8 Just soli may be
as an act by a state by which it deprives one of its nationals
defined as the acquisition of a particular state's nationality of his nationality. Denationalization may occur either by
by virtue of being born within the territory of that state. operation of law-certain conduct resulting in @so facto
The principle of jus sanguinis may be defrned as the ac- loss-or after an administrative or judicial proceeding in-
quisition of a particular state's nationality by virtue of the stituted by the state.
possession of the nationality by one's parents. Nationality, b. Expatriation. A difficult question arises from the act
under this principle, may be said to be acquired by de- of renunciation by 'an individual, as it is not entirely clear
scent. whether expatriation is unilateral or bilateral in nature.
(2) Derivative acquisition of nationality. The deriva- May an individual legally terminate his allegiance to the
tive acquisition of nationality has been referred to as state of his nationality by unilaterally renouncing his na-
naturalization ipso facto. As such, it deals with the process tionality, or must a release by the state follow the renun-
of naturalization in its broadest sense. Naturalization
ciation for the renunciation to be "good against the
derivatively acquired generally flows from some action of
world?" At common law a subject's allegiance persisted.
the person naturalized after birth. Several methods of ac- This theory was known as the "doctrine of indelible
quiring nationality fall within the broad category of
allegiance" and was a part of the English law until 1870. It
naturalization: by marriage; by legitimation; by acquisition was, of course, a source of friction and bitterness between
of domicile; by entry into the service of a foreign state; by Great Britain and the United States, particularly in the
resumption of a lost nationality; and by the familiar later 18th and 19th centuries. Between 1870 and 1948,
naturalization process of a formal act on the application of the English reversed this doctrine. In 1948, pursuant to
the individual concerned. 9 In all of these areas substantial
the British Nationality Act, a middle ground was taken: a
4. 72 Stat. 528 (1958), 22 U.S.C. 5 1642d (1958). British subject may now either retain or renounce his
5. H. R. Rep. No. 2227,85th Cong., 2d Sess.(1958), 2 U.S. Code allegiance to the Crown, as he chooses, upon acquisition
Cong. & Admin. News, 3304 (1958). of a new nationality. The doctrine of indelible allegiance
6. Preselj, The Rule of the Nationali@ of Claimant, Due Process of was also a part of the law of the United States in early
Law and the United Slotes Congress, 53 Am. J. Int'l L. 144-151 (1959).
7. P. Weis, Nationality and Statelessness in International Law 3 times. Gradually, however, the doctrine was abandoned
(1955). as it did not comport with the position of the United States
8. 1 L. Oppenheim, International Law 650-660 (8th ed. Lauter-
pacht 1955). 10. Immigration and Nationality Act, 66 Stat. 163 (1952), as
9. Id. at 660-63. amended 8 U.S.C. 45 1421-59 (1958).