Nationality

From Open Encyclopedia

Conflict of Laws
Image:Scale of justice.png
Preliminary matters
Characterisation · Incidental question
Renvoi · Choice of law
Conflict of Laws in the U.S.
Public policy · Hague Conference
Definitional elements
State · Jurisdiction · Procedure
Forum non conveniens · Lex causae
Lex fori · Forum shopping
Connecting factors
Domicile · Lex domicilii
Nationality · Lex patriae
Lex loci arbitri · Lex situs
Lex loci contractus
Lex loci delicti commissi
Lex loci solutionis · Proper law
Lex loci celebrationis
Choice of law clause
Forum selection clause
Substantive legal areas
Status · Capacity · Contract · Tort
Marriage · Nullity · Divorce
Get divorce · Talaq divorce
Property · Succession
Enforcement
Enforcement of foreign judgments

In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. Where the country only has one legal system, the law matches the common perception, but where the country is divided into separate states, different rules apply. In the common law, upon birth, every person acquires a domicile. This is the relationship between a person and a specific legal system. Hence, one might have an Australian nationality and a domicile in New South Wales, or an American nationality and a domicile in Arizona. The person remains subject to the state's jurisdiction (the lex domicilii in Conflict of Laws) for the purposes of defining status and capacity wherever he or she might travel outside the state's territory; in exchange, the individual is entitled to the state's protection, and to other rights as well. This is an aspect of the public policy of parens patriae and derives from the social contract. In the civil law systems of continental Europe, either the law of nationality (known as the lex patriae) or the law of the place of habitual residence is preferred to domicile as the test of a person's status and capacity.

The nationals of a country generally possess the right of abode in the territory of the country whose nationality they hold, though there are some exceptions (e.g., British Nationality Law).

Nationality must be distinguished from citizenship: citizens have rights to participate in the political life of the state of which they are a citizen, such as by voting or standing for election; while nationals need not have these rights, though normally they do.

Traditionally under international law and the Conflict of Laws, it was the right of each state to determine who its nationals are. However, today the law of nationality is increasingly coming under regulation, e.g., by the various conventions on statelessness, and the European Convention on Nationality.

Nationality can generally be acquired by jus soli, jus sanguinis or naturalisation.

Some countries do not permit dual nationality while others only allow a very limited form of dual citizenship (e.g. Indian nationality law, South African nationality law). A person who is not a national of any state is referred to as a stateless person.

The nationality of a legal person (e.g., a corporation) is generally the state under whose laws the legal person is registered.

[edit]

Alternative usage

In several non-English speaking areas of the world, the cognate word for nationality in local language may be understood as a synonym of ethnicity, as nation can be defined as a grouping based on cultural self-determination rather than on relations with a state. For example, many people would say they are Kurds, i.e., of Kurdish nationality, even though Kurdistan is not a state. In the context of former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia, nationality is often used as translation of the Russian and Serbian terms (nacional'nost', narodnost) used for ethnic groups within those (former) states. Similarly, the term "nationalities of China" refers to ethnic groups in China.