Page 189 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

THE PRESENT LEGAL POSITION 127
not British subjects, arc declared, for the purposes of the Nationality
Act, not to be aliens.1 As British protected persons, they are not sub­
ject to the disabilities and restrictions imposed on aliens residing in
the United Kingdom in regard to registration with the police and
employment.2 They may land and reside freely in the United Kingdom
without being required to obtain special permission. They are also
eligible to become British subjects by naturalisation on more favour­
able terms than those applicable to aliens.3 Further, as British pro­
tected persons, the nationals of the Shaikhdoms
cannot be guilty of treason under the law of the United Kingdom in respect
of any conduct [on their part] elsewhere than within the dominions of the
Crown.4
But it is presumed, on the authority of Joyce v. Director of Public
Prosecutions (1946), that
a British protected person who is the bearer of a British passport may be
tried for a treasonable act committed abroad.5
From the point of view of international law, the nationals of the
Shaikhdoms are classified as British nationals who, on the same foot­
ing as British subjects, normally enjoy Her Majesty’s protection
through her diplomatic representatives in the Commonwealth and in
foreign States.6 But, according to Mervyn Jones:
Neither British subjects nor British protected persons may claim as of right
a passport or diplomatic protection.

However, ‘a passport’, he says, ‘is prima-facie evidence of British
nationality’.7 The nationals of the Shaikhdoms are, therefore, accorded
British protection abroad on the basis of the passports, or the travel
documents, which they carry. The Shaikhdoms have their own separ­
ate passports which are issued subject to the authority of the Rulers.8
1 Parry, op. cit., pp. 352-3; Jones, J. Mervyn, British Nationality Law, Rev. ed.
(1956), pp. 194-5.
2 Jones, B.Y.I.L. (1948), op. cit., p. 176; Parry, op. cit., p. 353; Jones, British
Nationality Law, op. cit., pp. 78-81.
3 Parry, op. cit., p. 353: A British protected person can become a British subject
by naturalisation in accordance with Article 10 of the British Nationality Act,
1948. Sec ibid.
4 Parry, op. cit., p. 353, Jones, B.Y.I.L. (1948), op. cit., p. 176.
6 Joyce v. Director of Public Prosecutions, [1946], A.C. 347; See Parry, op. cit.,
p. 353, n. (11).
“Jones, B.Y.I.L. (1948), op. cit., p. 175.
7 Jones, British Nationality Law, op. cit., p. 195.
8 For example, the ‘Passport of the Bahrain State and Dependencies* contains
this Note:
‘To all whom it may concern:—Greeting, Honourable friends, the Officials of
the Great Powers and the Representatives of other Kingdoms abroad, are required
and requested to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to