British subject

Before the concept of nationality was codified in legislation, inhabitants of English communities owed allegiance to their feudal lords, who were themselves vassals of the monarch. This system of loyalty, indirectly owed to the monarch personally, developed into a general establishment of subjecthood to the Crown.[2] Calvin's Case in 1608 established the principle of jus soli, that all those who were born within Crown dominions and allegiance were natural-born subjects.[3] After the Acts of Union 1707, English and Scottish subjects became British subjects.[2][4] Natural-born subjects were considered to owe perpetual allegiance to the Crown,[5] and could not voluntarily renounce British subject status until it was first permitted in 1870.[6]

Prior to 1708, foreigners could only be naturalised through Acts of Parliament. Although procedures were created after this point for aliens to become subjects, personalised naturalising legislation continued to be enacted until 1975. Additionally, the monarch could personally make any foreigner a subject by royal prerogative.[7] A denizen created by this method was not an alien but could not pass subject status to children by descent and was barred from Crown service and public office.[5] This mechanism was never used after 1873.[8]

A distinction was made between subjects who naturalised in the United Kingdom and those who did so in other territories. Individuals who naturalised in the UK were deemed to have received the status by imperial naturalisation that was valid throughout the Empire, while those in colonies were said to have gone through local naturalisation and given subject status valid only within the relevant territory.[7]

British subject status was codified in statute law for the first time by the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914, which formalised the status as a common nationality among the United Kingdom and its Dominions. Dominions that adopted this Act as part of their own nationality laws (Australia, Canada, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa) were authorised to grant subject status to aliens by imperial naturalisation.[9]

During this time, British subject status was the principal form of British nationality.[4] There were certain territories that came under British jurisdiction but were not formally incorporated as Crown territory proper. These included protectorates, protected states, League of Nations mandates, and United Nations trust territories. Because they were foreign lands, birth in one of these areas did not automatically confer British subject status. Instead, most people associated with these territories were designated as British protected persons.[10]

Following the First World War, the Dominions developed distinct national identities. Britain formally recognised this at the 1926 Imperial Conference, jointly issuing the Balfour Declaration with all the Dominion heads of government, which stated that the United Kingdom and Dominions were autonomous and equal to each other within the British Commonwealth of Nations. Legislative independence of the Dominions was given legal effect after passage and ratification of the Statute of Westminster 1931.[11] Diverging developments in Dominion nationality laws and ever growing assertions of independence from London culminated with the creation of Canadian citizenship in 1946.[12] Combined with the approaching independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, nationality law reform was necessary at this point to address ideas that were incompatible with the previous system.[13]

The British Nationality Act 1948 redefined British subject as any citizen of the United Kingdom, its colonies, or other Commonwealth countries. Commonwealth citizen was first defined in this Act to have the same meaning.[14] This alternate term was necessary to retain a number of newly independent countries in the Commonwealth that wished to become republics rather than preserve the monarch as head of state.[15] The change in naming also indicated a shift in the base theory to this aspect of British nationality; allegiance to the Crown was no longer a requirement to possess British subject status and the common status would be maintained by voluntary agreement among the various members of the Commonwealth.[16]

British subject/Commonwealth citizen status coexisted with the citizenships of each Commonwealth country. A person born in Australia would be both an Australian citizen and a British subject.[17] British subjects under the previous meaning who held that status on 1 January 1949 because of a connection with the United Kingdom or a remaining colony became Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC). This was the principal form of British nationality during this period of time.[18]

There was also a category of people called British subjects without citizenship. Irish citizens who fulfilled certain requirements could file formal claims with the Home Secretary to remain British subjects under this definition. Additionally, those who did not qualify for CUKC status or citizenship in other Commonwealth countries, or were connected with a country that had not yet defined citizenship laws, would transitionally remain British subjects in this group.[19]

All British subjects initially held an automatic right to settle in the United Kingdom,[20] though non-white immigration into the United Kingdom was systemically discouraged.[21] This entitlement was part of a wider initiative to preserve close relationships with certain Dominions and colonies (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and Southern Rhodesia) and to moderate nationalist attitudes within the Commonwealth.[22] It was thought that only a limited number of non-white colonial migrants would ever seek to settle in the UK.[23] However, strong economic conditions in Britain after the Second World War attracted an unprecedented wave of colonial migration. In response to growing anti-immigration sentiment,[24] Parliament imposed immigration controls on subjects originating from outside the British Islands with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962.[25] The Immigration Act 1971 relaxed controls on patrials, subjects whose parents or grandparents were born in the United Kingdom,[26] and gave effective preferential treatment to Commonwealth citizens from white-majority countries.[27]

Outside of the United Kingdom, the legal significance of British subject status varied depending on each Commonwealth country's legislation. At first, British subjects retained in some of these countries eligibility to vote in elections, for preferred paths to citizenship, and for welfare benefits. These privileges were removed on independence in most countries but still retained in some. British subjects were eligible to vote in New Zealand until 1975,[28] Canada on the federal level until 1975 (not fully phased out in provinces until 2006),[29] and Australia until 1984 (though subjects on the electoral roll in that year are still eligible).[30]

Because each country now defined British subject in separate pieces of legislation and these definitions were not always updated or kept at parity, individuals could have been British subjects in one country at a given time but not another. For example, a South African citizen in 1967 would have been considered a British subject in Canada, but not the United Kingdom or South Africa. The country was included in the list of Commonwealth nations in Canadian law,[31] despite South Africa having left the Commonwealth in 1961 and not rejoining it until 1994.[32]

By the 1980s, most colonies of the British Empire had become independent. Parliament updated nationality law to reflect the more modest geographical boundaries of the United Kingdom.[33] The British Nationality Act 1981 recategorised CUKCs into different nationality groups based on patriality and birthplace. CUKCs with the right of abode in the United Kingdom or were closely connected with the UK, Channel Islands, or Isle of Man became British citizens while those connected with a remaining colony became British Dependent Territories citizens. Those who could not be reclassified into either of these statuses and were no longer associated with a British territory became British Overseas citizens.[34]

While all nationals under those categories continue to be Commonwealth citizens, the definition of British subject was limited to its present meaning. It currently only includes the category of people previously called British subjects without citizenship as well as women who married such persons and registered for the status. The term is no longer synonymous with Commonwealth citizen. British citizens are not British subjects as defined by the 1981 Act.[34]

In other Commonwealth countries that still retained it, British subject status was progressively abolished. The status remained in law in South Africa until 1961,[35] Canada until 1977,[36] New Zealand until 1977,[37] and Australia until 1987.[17]

Though the British government has never conceded to suggestions that its policies and legislation concerning nationality were discriminatory or racist, Parliament has since revised nationality law to correct remaining cases of statelessness caused by deprivation of the right to settle in the UK after 1962. The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 granted British subjects who do not hold and have not lost an alternative nationality the right to register as British citizens.[38]

British subjects without right of abode are subject to immigration controls when entering the United Kingdom.[45] They are required to pay a "health surcharge" to access National Health Service benefits when residing in the UK for longer than six months[56] and do not qualify for most welfare programmes.[57]

Before the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union on 31 January 2020, full British citizens and British subjects with right of abode in the UK were European Union citizens.[58] British subjects without right of abode in the UK were not EU citizens and did not enjoy freedom of movement in other EU countries.[59] They were,[60] and continue to be, exempted from obtaining visas when visiting the Schengen Area.[58]