TNAG-1189-FCO40-1491-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1982 — Page 3

but the use of the "British subject" in passports (which term was abolished/ by the 1981 Act) had a purpose wideredmest than its context in purely domesticles law (such as enjoyment of the franchise). Its primary purpose was to establish the holder's status (in terms of nationality) for the purposes of international law;

both leading text-book writers and the courts have accepted the international significance of passports in establish- ing national status -

(i)

"This rule (that every state holds the right of protection over its nationals abroad) may be asserted by the holder of a passport which is for him the outward title of his rights"

(Oppenheim 5th ed. Vol. I p. 546). (ii) "It (a British passport) is a docu- ment issued in the name of the

Sovereign on the responsibility of a Minister of the Crown to a named individual, intended to be presented to the Governments of foreign nations and to be used for that individual's protection as a British Subject in foreign countries"

(Alverstone C.J. in R. v. Brailsford 1905 2 K.B. 730, 745, relied on in Joyce v. D.P.P. 1946 A.C. 347, 369).

:

It is apposite that in Joyce's case the passport was considered such crucial proof of the relation- ship of allegiance and protection that Joyce ("Lord Haw-Haw") was convicted of high treason and executed on the strength of it, though he was an Irish-American citizen.

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Accordingly, the Attorney General concludes that it is lawful and indeed appropriate in a passport to describe that relationship which gives rise to the right to protection (i.e. nationality) rather than merely to describe the category of citizenship, which carries rights under domestic law, such as that of abode. It is no doubt administratively convenient and sensible to indicate in a passport (e.g. by category of citizenship) in which territory of a State any particular citi- zen has the right of abode, so that in the case of renvoi by a foreign state it may be easily seen to where he should be returned.

G.S. 166

CONFIDENTIALS