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ALLEGIANCE (Mid. Eng. ligeaunce; med....
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See also:ALLEGIANCE (See also:Mid. Eng. ligeaunce; med. See also:Lat. ligeantia, &c.; the al- was probably added through confusion with another legal See also:term, allegeance, an allegation; the Fr. allegeance comes from the See also:English; the word is formed from " See also:liege," of which the derivatio n is given under that heading; the connexion with Lat. ligare, to bind, is erroneous), the See also:duty which a subject or a See also:citizen owes to the See also:state or to the See also:sovereign of the state to which he belongs. It is often used by English legal commentators in a larger sense, divided by them into natural and See also:local, the latter applying to the deference which even a foreigner must pay to the institutions of the See also:country in which he happens to live; but it is in its proper sense, in which it indicates See also:national See also:character and the subjection due to that character, that the word is important. In that sense it represents the feudal liege See also:homage, which could be due only to one See also:lord, while See also:simple homage might be due to every lord under whom the See also:person in question held See also:land. The English See also:doctrine, which was at one See also:time adopted in the See also:United States, asserted that allegiance was indelible:—Nemo potest exuere patriam. Accordingly, as the See also:law stood before 1870, every person who by See also:birth or See also:naturalization satisfied the conditions described in the See also:article See also:ALIEN, though he should be-See also:ALLEGORY 6 8 9 removed in See also:infancy to another country where his See also:family resided, owed an allegiance to the See also:British See also:crown which he could never resign or lose, except by See also:act of See also:parliament or by the recognition of the See also:independence or the cession of the portion of British territory in which he resided. By the Naturalization Act 187o, it was made possible for British subjects to renounce their See also:nationality and allegiance, and the ways in which that nationality is lost are defined. So British subjects voluntarily naturalized in a See also:foreign state are deemed aliens from the time of such naturalization, unless, in the See also:case of persons naturalized before the passing of -the act, they have declared their See also:desire to remain British subjects within two years from the passing of the act. Persons who from having been See also:born within British territory are British subjects, but who at birth became under the law of any foreign state subjects of such state, and also persons who though born abroad are British subjects by See also:reason of parentage, may by declarations of alienage get rid of British nationality. See also:Emigration to an uncivilized country leaves British nationality unaffected: indeed the right claimed by all states to follow with their authority their subjects so emigrating is one of the usual and recognized means of colonial expansion. The doctrine that no See also:man can See also:cast off his native allegiance without the consent of his sovereign was See also:early abandoned in the United States, and in 1868 See also:congress declared that " the right of See also:expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all See also:people, in-dispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of See also:life, See also:liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and one of " the fundamental principles of the See also:republic " ( United States Revised Statutes, sec. 1999). Every citizen of a foreign state in See also:America owes a See also:double allegiance, one to it and one to the United States. He may be guilty of See also:treason against one or both. If the demands of these two sovereigns upon his duty of allegiance come into conflict, those of the United States have the See also:paramount authority in See also:American law.
The See also:oath of allegiance is an oath of fidelity to the sovereign taken by all persons holding important public See also:office and as a See also:condition of naturalization. By See also:ancient See also:common law it might be required of all persons above the See also:age of twelve, and it was repeatedly used as a test for the disaffected. In See also:England it was first imposed by See also:statute in the reign of See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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