The same system in general has been followed in the treaties of Christian states with China, of which that made by the United States in 1844, and spoken of below under the title of Consuls, may serve as an example. Quite recently the same exterritorial jurisdiction has been granted by the government of Japan to functionaries of the United States resident in that country.1

Aliens losing in part or entirely the

§ 70.

Foreign residents in most Christian countries can sustain, in the course of time, a closer or more distant relation to the body politic within whose borders they character of live. They can acquire nationality, or in other words, become naturalized, or they may remain in the territory as domiciliated strangers.

aliens.

Naturalization.

Naturalization implies the renunciation of a former nationality, and the fact of entrance into a similar relation towards a new body politic. It is possible for a person, without renouncing his country, or expatriating himself, do Christian states grant reciprocal privileges to the functionaries of these countries.-T. S., citing a paper of D. D. Field.

1 An act was passed by Congress, in 1860, to carry into effect certain stipulations in the treaties between the United States and China, Japan, Siam, Turkey, Persia, Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Muscat, and by which our laws in criminal and civil matters are extended over American citizens in those countries; also the common law, including equity and admiralty. Ministers and consuls have full judicial powers, and can punish by fine or imprisonment, or both, at discretion. The President is authorized to appoint seven Marshals to execute processes, one in Japan, four in China, one in Siam, and one in Turkey. Murder and insurrection, or rebellion against the government of either of said countries, with intent to subvert the same, are made capital offenses, punishable with death. Our consuls or commercial agents on islands not inhabited by any civilized people, or whom we have not recognized by treaty, are also empowered to exercise judicial functions over American citizens. By the treaty with Japan, signed at Yedo, July 29, 1858, offenses shall be tried in the offender's court and according to the law of his country, and the courts of each nation, that is, the consular and the Japanese, are open to creditors belonging to the other nationality. In the same way, by the treaty of 1858 with China, the offender's court and law decide when a criminal act is committed; but where both parties are citizens of the United States, our judges (consuls or others thereto authorized) have jurisdiction. When one is a citizen of the United States, and the other pertains to some other foreign nationality, the judicial arrangements are regulated by treaty between the United States and the sovereign.

to have the privileges of citizenship in a second country, although he cannot sustain the same obligations to both. Is it also possible for him to renounce his country, and become a citizen of another, so far as even to be bound, like his fellowcitizens, to take up arms against the land of his birth? Most nations hold that this transfer of allegiance is possible, and embody the conditions of it in their naturalization laws. Even England, which long retained the doctrine of indelible allegiance, admitted strangers to citizenship (or to a less privileged relation) by special act or grant. (§ 70, infra.) But inasmuch as the conditions of naturalization vary, there may arise here a conflict of laws, and two nations may at once claim the same man as sustaining to them the obligations of a citizen. International law has not undertaken to decide in such conflicts, and the question is scarcely one of practical importance, except when the naturalized person returns to his native country, and when he is caught fighting against her. There is no doubt that a state, having undertaken to adopt a stranger, is bound to protect him like any other citizen. Should he return to his native soil, and be apprehended for the non-fulfillment of civic duties which devolved on him before his emigration, there would be no ground of complaint on that score. Should he be required anew to enter into the status of a citizen, in such sort as to renounce his allegiance to his new country, this force must be regarded by his adopted country, on her theory of civic rights, as a wrong calling for redress. Should he be subjected to ill-treatment when a captive in war, on the ground of fighting against his native country, here, too, there would be reason for retaliation. In short, the nation which has naturalized, and thus bound itself to protect a person, cannot abandon its obligation, on account of views of civic obligations which another nation may entertain.

Whether anything short of completed naturalization can sunder the tie to the place of origin, may be a question. It is held that a domiciled stranger may not with impunity be found in arms against his native country. For the effects of 1 Kent, i., 76, Lect. iv.

incipient naturalization compare the case of Koszta in the appendix to this chapter. The English practice in the earlier part of this century, of impressing seamen from neutral vessels, on the ground that they owed allegiance to their native sovereign, was objectionable, whether this doctrine of inalienable allegiance stands or falls; for to seize native-born sailors on foreign vessels, upon the sea, is to act the sovereign beyond one's own territory; it is to execute one's own laws where the laws of another sovereign are supreme. (Comp. § 221.) We add here the regulations of some of the more important countries in regard to naturalization.1

Rules of several nations as to naturalization.

In England formerly an alien could cease to be such only in one of two ways, the first of which was by letters-patent of the crown constituting him a denizen, in which status he could purchase and devise lands, but received no capacity of holding political trusts, and was not altogether freed from burdens resting on aliens. The second way was naturalization by act of Parliament, which placed the person concerned in a slightly superior status to that of a denizen, yet did not qualify him to hold political trusts. A statute of 1844 (7 and 8 Vict., ch. 66), went further by allowing a secretary of state to confer on an alien, petitioning for naturalization, all the rights and capacities of a natural-born subject, except those of becoming a member of the Privy Council or of either house of Parliament. In 1870 (33 Vict., ch. 14), a new and very important statute gave to the alien all desirable facilities of becoming a British subject, and to the British subject the power of renouncing his nationality. By this statute an alien, after five years' residence in the United Kingdom, or service of the crown, who intends, if naturalized, to continue his residence or service, may apply to one of the principal secretaries of state for a certificate of naturalization. When thus naturalized, he becomes entitled to all the political rights and powers of a British subject, and is placed under all the obligations of a subject, with this qualification that within the limits of the state to which he for

1 Felix, Droit Intern. Privé, 3d ed., i., 81-100.

merly belonged he shall not be deemed to be a British subject, unless he has ceased to be a subject of that state in pursuance of its laws or of a treaty to that effect. It is provided also that aliens naturalized according to the statute of 1844 may partake of the advantages of this new mode of naturalization. On the other hand, any British subject, naturalized in any foreign state, is deemed to have ceased to be a subject, and is regarded as an alien; and a British subject who has thus become an alien can be readmitted to British nationality on the same terms with other aliens, but with the qualification before noticed. Another article determines the status of married women and infant children.

In August of the same year, and in conformity with this statute, a convention relative to naturalization was concluded between Great Britain and the United States. Subjects or citizens of either state may be naturalized in the other according to its laws, and after this they cease to retain their old national status; but may regain it like other aliens, and the same alternation of nationality may be renewed over and over.1

In France a stranger became a citizen by the Const. of 22d Frimaire, year VIII., when after reaching the age of twentyone, obtaining liberty of domicil, and declaring his intention to remain in France, he had resided there for ten consecutive years. His naturalization was also to be pronounced to be in force by the head of the state. In addition to this the child of foreign parents, born on French soil, may claim the quality of a Frenchman in the year succeeding his majority. Naturalization in a foreign country involves the loss of French citizenship.2

In Prussia an appointment to a public function brought the right of citizenship with it, and the same was the case in Aus

1 See the law and the treaty in Phillimore, Append. iv. of vol. i., and the treaty in the list of treaties of the United States (1871, p. 405).

2 Demangeat on Fœlix, i., 88, gives the then latest legislation on this subject. The term of ten years can be reduced to one in favor of inventors and others who confer important services on France. By a law of June 29, 1867, any foreigner, twenty-one years of age, to whom permission should be given to be domiciled in France, could enjoy all the rights of a French citizen after three years.

tria, and perhaps elsewhere. In Prussia the higher administrative authorities had the right to naturalize strangers of good character who possess the means of subsistence, excepting Jews, subjects of other members of the Germanic confederacy, and persons incapable of taking care of themselves.

In Austria leave to exercise a profession, ten years of residence, and the consent of the authorities, were prerequisites to naturalization.

In both of the last-named states nationality is shaken off by emigration, for which permission has been obtained from the government.

In Russia a simple oath of allegiance to the emperor formerly naturalized, but naturalized strangers can at any time renounce their national status and return to their own country. Since 1864, a foreigner must be domiciled five years before he can apply for naturalization.

In the United States, the person wishing to be naturalized, must make a declaration on oath, before certain judicial persons, of an intent to become a citizen and to renounce his former nationality, two years at least after which, and after five years of residence, he may become a citizen in full of the United States, although not necessarily a citizen of any State in the Union.

Between 1868 and 1870 quite a number of conventions were concluded between the United States and other powers, espe cially of Germany, all of them made after nearly the same pattern. Such are the treaties with the North German Union, Baden, Bavaria, Hesse, Würtemberg, with Belgium, Sweden, and Austria. The common term of uninterrupted residence is five years, before naturalization can be granted. The declaration of an intention to become a citizen has of itself no effect on the status of the person making it. If a naturalized person returns to the country where he first lived, he "remains liable to trial and punishment for an action punishable by the laws of his original country, and committed before his emigration, saving always the limitation established by its laws or any other remission of liability to punishment."