FOREIGN OFFICE, S.V. 1.
7th February 1927.
486
My dear Risley,
Many thanks for your letter with the Hong Kong paper,
which I return herewith.
can,
It is interesting that the case should present itself
to you in a concrete form. We have not had many cases,
though the point is always cropping up in theory, but there
I think, be little doubt that our consuls register with-
out hesitation as British subjects the children of British
parents whose religious law (or the law of their original
domicile) recognises polygamy. There is, so far as I know,
no express authority on the subject, though we have got one or
two Law Officers' opinions which we regard as supporting the
view that such children may be regarded as British subjects.
From this point of view the importance of the Abdul case is
that it may be read as suggesting that, if the offspring of such a marriage can be regarded as "children" for the purpose
of participating under the Statute of Distributions, they
John Risley, K.C.M.G., C.B., K.C.,
Colonial office,
5.1. 1.
can/