CO885-(13-15) — Page 200

COPYRIGHT BLOTAPE LAU

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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C.O.885

13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

1188.

MY LORD,

No. 200.

(MAURITIUS.)

LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.

Royal Courts of Justice,

December 22, 1890.

We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Sir Thomas Sanderson's letter of the 11th instant, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the accompanying correspondence on the subject of the nationality of Mme. de Préaudet, a lady of French origin, widow of a native of Mauritius.

That Mme. Préaudet's husband died, apparently, in the year 1874, when she left Mauritius for France, where she had since continuously resided. That she inquired whether, according to the law of Mauritius, she remained a British subject after her husband's death, or recovered her original French nationality.

That Sir Thomas Sanderson was to observe that the matter appeared to be primarily governed by the provisions of the "Code Napoléon," which, having been introduced into the Mauritius in 1808, while the Island was under French rule, was continued as (and still remained) the law of the Colony when it subsequently became a part of the British dominions.

That the Code in question provided as follows (Livre 1, Chapitre II, section Im 19): "Une femme Française qui épousera un étranger suivra la condition de son mari. Si elle devient veuve elle recouvrira la qualité de Française pourvu qu'elle réside en France," &c.; and that the "Procureur-Général" of the Colony reported that, by the effect of that provision Mme. Préaudet, as she was now a widow and resided in France, had resumed her nationality as a French citizen.

That it was, however, doubtful whether the sections of the "Code Napoléon " quoted by that officer could, when construed as part of the law of Mauritius under British rule, be held to apply to the case of a French woman marrying a British subject, as such a construction required that, for the purposes of the law of a British Colony, a British subject should, as well as every other person not a French citizen, be described as "un étranger;" while aliens of French nationality should be the only persons regarded as natives.

That it seemed, therefore, most probable that the law was to be read, mutatis mutandis, as follows:-

"Une femme Mauritienne qui épousera un étranger suivra la condition de son mari. "Si elle devient veuve elle recouvrira la qualité de Mauritienne pourvu qu'elle réside dans l'Ile Maurice," &c.

Procurour-Général" had no

That in that event the paragraphs quoted by the "

of the

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application to the case in question, which would appear rather to be governed, in so far as the law of Mauritius was concerned, by the terms, mutatis mutandis, of Article 12 Code Napoléon," viz., "L'étrangère qui aurait épousé un Français suivra la condition de son mari.'

That there was no provision of the national status of an alien woman who, having married a Frenchman, subsequently Code Napoléon" dealing specifically with the became a widow; but that, judging from the analogy of the case dealt with in Article 19 (already quoted above) of that Code, such widow would retain the French nationality of her late husband, unless and until she complied with the formalities* prescribed by the law of her country of origin with regard to persons desirous of reverting to their nationality of origin.

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Assuming that construction rather than that of the correct, the law of the Mauritius would, it was thought, be found to be practically in Procureur-Général" to be accord with the provisions of the Imperial Naturalization Act of 1870 upon the point.

But that, on the other hand, if section 10 (1) of the latter Act was applicable to Her Majesty's Colonies as well as to the United Kingdom, as to which point Sir Thomas Sanderson was to call our attention to the enclosed opinion (Law Officers to Colonial Office of the 8th February, 1881) given by our predecessors in office and by Dr. Deane, Q.C., in 1881; and if the construction of the "Code Napoléon" which was contended for by the "Procureur-Général” apparently, be an irreconcileable conflict between Colonial and Imperial law with regard should prevail, then there would, to the present status of this lady.

The Earl of Lytton, No. 60, Treaty, July 26; to ditto, No. 55, Treaty, July 28; Mr. Egerton, No 66, Treaty, August 3; to Colonial Office, August 11; Colonial Office, August 22; ditto (and Inclosure), November 14, 1890; Law Officers' Report, February 8, 1881; Naturalization Act, 1870, and French Nationality Law of June 26, 1689.

E 65459.-2.

25. 2/91.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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