Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ALIEN (Lat. alienus)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 663 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

ALIEN (See also:Lat. alienus) , the technical See also:term applied by See also:British constitutional See also:law to anyone who does not enjoy the See also:character of a British subject; in See also:general, a foreigner who for the purposes of any See also:state comes into certain domestic relations with it, other than those applying to native-See also:born or naturalized citizens, but owns See also:allegiance to a See also:foreign See also:sovereign. See also:English law, See also:save with the See also:special exceptions mentioned, admits to the character of subjects all who are born within' the See also:king's allegiance, that is, speaking generally, within the British dominions. In the celebrated question of the See also:post-nati in the reign of See also:James I. of See also:England, it was found, after See also:solemn trial, that natives of See also:Scotland born before the See also:union of the crowns were aliens in England, but that, since allegiance is to the See also:person of the king, those born subsequently were English subjects. A See also:child ALIEN born abroad, whose See also:father or whose grandfather on the father's See also:side was a British subject, may claim the same character unless at the See also:time of his See also:birth his father was an attainted traitor, or in the service of a state engaged in See also:war against the British See also:empire (4th Geo. II. c. 21). Owing to this exceptional See also:provision some sons of Jacobite refugees born abroad, who joined in the See also:rebellion of 1745, were admitted to the See also:privilege of prisoners of war. It has been enacted in the See also:United See also:Kingdom with regard to the See also:national status of See also:women and See also:children that a married woman is to be deemed a subject of the state of which her See also:husband is for the time being a subject; that a natural-born British woman, having become an alien by See also:marriage, and thereafter being a widow, may be rehabilitated under conditions slightly more favourable than are required for See also:naturalization; that where a father or a widow becomes an alien, the children in See also:infancy becoming See also:resident in the See also:country where the See also:parent is naturalized, and being naturalized by the See also:local law, are held to be subjects of that country; that those of a father or of a widow readmitted to British See also:nationality or who obtains a certificate of naturalization, becoming during infancy resident with such parent in the British dominions in the former See also:case or in the United Kingdom in the latter, become readmitted or naturalized (Naturalization See also:Act 1870, s. 10). The nationality of children not covered by these enactments is not affected by the See also:change of their parents' nationality. The same See also:statute provides that a See also:declaration of alienage before a See also:justice of See also:peace or other competent See also:judge, having the effect of divesting the declarant of the character of a British subject, may be made by a naturalized British subject desiring to resume the nationality of the country to which he originally belonged, if there be a See also:convention to that effect with that country; by natural-born subjects who were also born subjects of another state according to its law; or by persons born abroad having British fathers. Naturalization, which means conferring the character of a subject, may now, under the act of 1870, be obtained by applying to the See also:home secretary and producing See also:evidence of having resided for not less than five years in the United Kingdom, or of having been in the service of the See also:crown for not less than five years, and of intention to reside in the United Kingdom or serve under the crown.

Such a certificate may be granted by the secretary of state to one naturalized previously to the passing of the act, or to a British subject as to whose nationality a doubt exists, or to a statutory alien, i.e. one who has become an alien by declaration in pursuance of the act of 187o. In the United States the See also:

separate state See also:laws largely determine the status of an alien, but subject to Federal See also:treaties. (For further particulars see ALLEGIANCE and NATURALIZATION.) Many of the disabilities to which aliens were subject in the United Kingdom, either by the See also:common law or under various acts of See also:parliament, have been repealed by the Naturalization Act 187o. It enables aliens to take, acquire, hold and dispose of real and See also:personal See also:property of every description, and to transmit a See also:title to it, in all respects as natural-born British subjects. But the act expressly declares that this relaxation of the law does not qualify aliens for any See also:office or any municipal, See also:parliamentary or other See also:franchise, or confer any right of a British subject other than those above expressed in regard to property, nor does it affect interests vested in See also:possession or expectancy under dispositions made before the act, or by See also:devolution of law on the See also:death of any one dying before the act. A See also:ship, any See also:share in which is owned by an alien, shall not be deemed a British ship (See also:Merchant See also:Shipping Act 1894, s. 1). By the Juries Act 1870, s. 8, aliens who have been domiciled for ten years in England or See also:Wales, if in other respects duly qualified, are liable to serve on juries or inquests in England or Wales; and by the Naturalization Act 1870, s. 5, the aliens' old privilege of being tried by a See also:jury de medietate linguae (that is, of which See also:half were foreigners), was abolished. It seems to be a See also:rule of general public law that an alien can be sent out of the See also:realm by exercise of the crown's See also:prerogative; but in See also:modern English practice, whenever it seems necessary to expel foreigners (see See also:EXPULSION), a special act of parliament has to be obtained for the purpose, unless the case falls within the See also:extradition acts or the Aliens Act 1905. The latter prohibits the landing in the United Kingdom of undesirable alien steerage passengers, called in We act " immigrants," from See also:ships carrying more than twenty alien steerage passengers, called in the act " immigrant ships "; nor can alien immigrants be landed except at certain ports at which there is an " immigrant officer," to whom See also:power of prohibiting the landing is given, subject to a right of See also:appeal to the See also:immigration See also:board of the See also:port.

The act contains a number of qualifications, and among these empowers the secretary of state to exempt any immigrant ship from its provisions if he is satisfied that a proper See also:

system is maintained to prevent the immigration of undesirable persons. The See also:principal test of undesirableness is not having or being in a position to obtain the means of supporting one's self and one's dependents, or appearing likely from disease or infirmity to become a See also:charge on the rates, provided that the immigrant is not seeking to avoid See also:prosecution or See also:punishment on religious or See also:political grounds, or persecution, involving danger of imprisonment or danger to See also:life or See also:limb, on See also:account of religious belief. Lunatics, idiots, persons who from disease or infirmity appear likely to become a detriment to the public otherwise than through the rates, and persons sentenced in a foreign country for crimes for which they could be surrendered to that country, are also enumerated as undesirable. Power is also given to the secretary of state to expel persons sentenced as just mentioned, or, if recommended by the See also:court in which they have been convicted, persons convicted of See also:felony or some offence for which the court has power to impose imprisonment without the See also:option of a See also:fine, or of certain offences against the See also:police laws; and persons in See also:receipt of any such parochial See also:relief as disqualifies for the parliamentary franchise, or wandering without ostensible meansof subsistence, orliving under insanitary conditions due to overcrowding. (J No.

End of Article: ALIEN (Lat. alienus)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ALIDADE (from the Arab.) 		[next]
ALIENATION (from Lat. alienus, belonging to another...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries