Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state .
87-474: An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed, or freely committed, by the people, subjects or citizens to their state or sovereign . The word allegiance comes from Middle English ligeaunce (see Medieval Latin ligeantia , "a liegance"). The al- prefix was probably added through confusion with another legal term, allegiance , an "allegation" (the French allegeance comes from
174-466: A civitas and the social class of the burgher or bourgeoisie . Since then states have expanded the status of citizenship to most of their national people , while the extent of citizen rights remain contested. Conceptually citizenship and nationality are different dimensions of state membership. Citizenship is focused on the internal political life of the state and nationality is the dimension of state membership in international law . Article 15 of
261-411: A bond, citizenship extends beyond basic kinship ties to unite people of different genetic backgrounds. It usually signifies membership in a political body. It is often based on or was a result of, some form of military service or expectation of future service. It usually involves some form of political participation, but this can vary from token acts to active service in government. It generally describes
348-429: A citizen on a number of bases. Every citizen has obligations that are required by law and some responsibilities that benefit the community. Obeying the laws of a country and paying taxes are some of the obligations required of citizens by law. Voting and community services form part of responsibilities of a citizen that benefits the community. The Constitution of Ghana (1992), Article 41, obligates citizens to promote
435-728: A citizen thereof." Under early U.S. laws, African Americans were not eligible for citizenship. In 1857, these laws were upheld in the US Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sandford , which ruled that "a free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were brought to this country and sold as slaves, is not a 'citizen' within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States," and that "the special rights and immunities guaranteed to citizens do not apply to them." It
522-690: A distinct Canadian Citizenship , automatically conferred upon most individuals born in Canada, with some exceptions, and defined the conditions under which one could become a naturalized citizen. The concept of Commonwealth citizenship was introduced in 1948 in the British Nationality Act 1948 . Other dominions adopted this principle such as New Zealand , by way of the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 . Citizenship most usually relates to membership of
609-468: A few hundred years and, for humanity, that the concept of citizenship arose with the first laws . Polis meant both the political assembly of the city-state as well as the entire society. Citizenship concept has generally been identified as a western phenomenon. There is a general view that citizenship in ancient times was a simpler relation than modern forms of citizenship, although this view has come under scrutiny. The relation of citizenship has not been
696-472: A fixed or static relation but constantly changed within each society, and that according to one view, citizenship might "really have worked" only at select periods during certain times, such as when the Athenian politician Solon made reforms in the early Athenian state. Citizenship was also contingent on a variety of biopolitical assemblages, such as the bioethics of emerging Theo-Philosophical traditions. It
783-569: A foreign land, owes a double allegiance, one to the United States, and one to their homeland (in the event of an immigrant becoming a citizen of the US) or to their adopted land (in the event of an emigrant natural-born citizen of the US becoming a citizen of another nation). If these allegiances come into conflict, the person may be guilty of treason against one or both. If the demands of these two sovereigns upon their duty of allegiance come into conflict, those of
870-491: A legal member of a specific nation. Modern citizenship has often been looked at as two competing underlying ideas: Responsibilities of citizens Responsibility is an action that individuals of a state or country must take note of in the interest of a common good. These responsibilities can be categorised into personal and civic responsibilities . Scholars suggest that the concept of citizenship contains many unresolved issues, sometimes called tensions, existing within
957-548: A less discriminatory system. The 1918 constitution of revolutionary Russia granted citizenship to any foreigners who were living within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , so long as they were "engaged in work and [belonged] to the working class." It recognized "the equal rights of all citizens, irrespective of their racial or national connections" and declared oppression of any minority group or race "to be contrary to
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#17327760519001044-580: A limited right to free movement and residence in the Member States other than that of which the European Union citizen is a national. Articles 18-21 and 225 provide certain political rights. Union citizens have also extensive rights to move in order to exercise economic activity in any of the Member States which predate the introduction of Union citizenship. Citizenship of the Mercosur
1131-467: A naturalized citizen. The Naturalization Act of 1790 , the first law in U.S. history to establish rules for citizenship and naturalization, barred citizenship to all people who were not of European descent, stating that "any alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, maybe admitted to becoming
1218-434: A particular law requires the taking of an oath of allegiance by subject or alien alike. Natural allegiance was acquired by birth within the sovereign's dominions (except for the issue of diplomats or of invading forces or of an alien in an enemy occupied territory). The natural allegiance and obedience are an incident inseparable from every subject, for as soon as they are born they owe by birthright allegiance and obedience to
1305-536: A particular locality, as well as membership in a mercantile or trading class; thus, individuals of respectable means and socioeconomic status were interchangeable with citizens. During this era, members of the nobility had a range of privileges above commoners (see aristocracy ), though political upheavals and reforms, beginning most prominently with the French Revolution , abolished privileges and created an egalitarian concept of citizenship. During
1392-428: A person with legal rights within a given political order. It almost always has an element of exclusion, meaning that some people are not citizens and that this distinction can sometimes be very important, or not important, depending on a particular society. Citizenship as a concept is generally hard to isolate intellectually and compare with related political notions since it relates to many other aspects of society such as
1479-420: A political one. For further information, see History of citizenship . Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and duties . In this sense, citizenship was described as "a bundle of rights -- primarily, political participation in the life of the community, the right to vote, and the right to receive certain protection from the community, as well as obligations." Citizenship
1566-400: A special elite status, and it can also be seen as a democratizing force and something that everybody has; the concept can include both senses. According to sociologist Arthur Stinchcombe , citizenship is based on the extent that a person can control one's own destiny within the group in the sense of being able to influence the government of the group. One last distinction within citizenship
1653-558: A struggle between the upper-class patrician interests against the lower-order working groups known as the plebeian class. A citizen came to be understood as a person "free to act by law, free to ask and expect the law's protection, a citizen of such and such a legal community, of such and such a legal standing in that community". Citizenship meant having rights to have possessions, immunities, expectations, which were "available in many kinds and degrees, available or unavailable to many kinds of person for many kinds of reason". The law itself
1740-399: A submissive relation with a lord or count, but rather indicated the bond between a person and the state in the rather abstract sense of having rights and duties. The modern idea of citizenship still respects the idea of political participation, but it is usually done through "elaborate systems of political representation at a distance" such as representative democracy . Modern citizenship
1827-432: A subordinate social status but demanded a greater role in the form of citizenship. Membership in guilds was an indirect form of citizenship in that it helped their members succeed financially. The rise of citizenship was linked to the rise of republicanism , according to one account, since independent citizens meant that kings had less power. Citizenship became an idealized, almost abstract, concept, and did not signify
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#17327760519001914-401: Is a natural and inherent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and (Section I) one of "the fundamental principles of this government" ( United States Revised Statutes , sec. 1999). Every natural-born citizen of a foreign state who is also an American citizen, and every natural-born American citizen who is also a citizen of
2001-461: Is also used for the initiation ceremony specific to many Sufi orders. Citizen Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term citizenship to refer to nationality ; these two notions are conceptually different dimensions of collective membership. Generally citizenships have no expiration and allow persons to work , reside and vote in
2088-407: Is an oath of fidelity to the sovereign taken by all persons holding important public office and as a condition of naturalization. By ancient common law, it was required of all persons above the age of 12, and it was repeatedly used as a test for the disaffected. In England, it was first imposed by statute in the reign of Elizabeth I (1558), and its form has, more than once, been altered since. Up to
2175-509: Is applied to the totality of the citizens of their constituent countries combined. Citizenship at this level is a secondary concept, with rights deriving from national citizenship. The Maastricht Treaty introduced the concept of citizenship of the European Union . Article 17 (1) of the Treaty on European Union stated that: Citizenship of the Union is hereby established. Every person holding
2262-421: Is due by nature and birthright, and is called alta ligeantia , and those that owe this are called subditus natus ; (b) Ligeantia acquisita , not by nature but by acquisition or denization, being called a denizen, or rather denizon, because they are subditus datus ; (c) Ligeantia localis , by operation of law, when a friendly alien enters the country, because so long as they are in the country they are within
2349-584: Is granted to eligible citizens of the Southern Common Market member states . It was approved in 2010 through the Citizenship Statute and should be fully implemented by the member countries in 2021 when the program will be transformed in an international treaty incorporated into the national legal system of the countries, under the concept of "Mercosur Citizen". The concept of "Commonwealth Citizenship" has been in place ever since
2436-591: Is how the fundamental basis of Swiss citizenship is a citizenship of an individual commune , from which follows citizenship of a canton and of the Confederation. Another example is Åland where the residents enjoy special provincial citizenship within Finland , hembygdsrätt . Naturalization Act 1870 The Naturalization Act 1870 ( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 14) was an act of the Parliament of
2523-418: Is much more passive; action is delegated to others; citizenship is often a constraint on acting, not an impetus to act. Nevertheless, citizens are usually aware of their obligations to authorities and are aware that these bonds often limit what they can do. From 1790 until the mid-twentieth century, United States law used racial criteria to establish citizenship rights and regulate who was eligible to become
2610-528: Is occupied in the course of hostilities by an enemy's force, even if the annexation of the occupied country is proclaimed by the enemy, there can be no change of allegiance during the progress of hostilities on the part of a citizen of the occupied country ( R v Vermaak (1900) 21 NLR 204 (South Africa)). Allegiance is owed both to the sovereign as a natural person and to the sovereign in the political capacity ( Re Stepney Election Petition, Isaacson v Durant (1886) 17 QBD 54 (per Lord Coleridge CJ)). Attachment to
2697-633: Is seen by most scholars as culture-specific, in the sense that the meaning of the term varies considerably from culture to culture, and over time. In China , for example, there is a cultural politics of citizenship which could be called "peopleship", argued by an academic article. How citizenship is understood depends on the person making the determination. The relation of citizenship has never been fixed or static, but constantly changes within each society. While citizenship has varied considerably throughout history, and within societies over time, there are some common elements but they vary considerably as well. As
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2784-430: Is the so-called consent descent distinction, and this issue addresses whether citizenship is a fundamental matter determined by a person choosing to belong to a particular nation––by their consent––or is citizenship a matter of where a person was born––that is, by their descent. Some intergovernmental organizations have extended the concept and terminology associated with citizenship to the international level, where it
2871-467: The Battle of Queenston Heights ; Winfield Scott urged American reprisal , but none was carried out. Allegiance was the tie which bound the subject to the sovereign , in return for that protection which the sovereign afforded the subject. It was the mutual bond and obligation between monarch and subjects, whereby subjects were called their liege subjects, because they are bound to obey and serve them; and
2958-489: The House of Commons on 2 May 1870 and passed, without amendments. The amended bill was considered and agreed to by the House of Lords on 9 May 1870. The bill was granted royal assent on 12 May 1870. Section 18 of the act repealed 18 enactments, listed in the schedule to the act. Section 18 of the act also included safeguards to preserve any rights, things done, liabilities, penalties, forfeits or investigations before
3045-420: The House of Lords on 18 March 1870 and passed, without amendments. The bill had its first reading in the House of Commons on 22 March 1870. The bill had its second reading in the House of Commons on 31 March 1870 and was committed to a committee of the whole house , which met on 25 April 1870 and 19 April 1870and reported on 29 April 1870, with amendments. The amended bill had its third reading in
3132-620: The Naturalization Act of 1870 would extend the right to become a naturalized citizen to include "aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent". Despite the gains made by African Americans after the Civil War, Native Americans , Asians , and others not considered "free white persons" were still denied the ability to become citizens. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act explicitly denied naturalization rights to all people of Chinese origin, while subsequent acts passed by
3219-509: The Renaissance , people transitioned from being subjects of a king or queen to being citizens of a city and later to a nation. Each city had its own law, courts, and independent administration. And being a citizen often meant being subject to the city's law in addition to having power in some instances to help choose officials. City dwellers who had fought alongside nobles in battles to defend their cities were no longer content with having
3306-669: The United Kingdom . Canada departed from the principle of nationality being defined in terms of allegiance in 1921. In 1935 the Irish Free State was the first to introduce its own citizenship. However, Irish citizens were still treated as subjects of the Crown , and they are still not regarded as foreign, even though Ireland is not a member of the Commonwealth. The Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946 provided for
3393-572: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to nationality. As such nationality in international law can be called and understood as citizenship, or more generally as subject or belonging to a sovereign state , and not as ethnicity. This notwithstanding, around 10 million people are stateless . Today, the concept of full citizenship encompasses not only active political rights, but full civil rights and social rights . A person can be recognized as
3480-414: The family , military service , the individual, freedom , religion , ideas of right, and wrong , ethnicity , and patterns for how a person should behave in society. When there are many different groups within a nation, citizenship may be the only real bond that unites everybody as equals without discrimination—it is a "broad bond" linking "a person with the state" and gives people a universal identity as
3567-572: The British crown which they could never resign or lose, except by act of parliament or by the recognition of the independence or the cession of the portion of British territory in which they resided. This refusal to accept any renunciation of allegiance to the Crown led to conflict with the United States over impressment , which led to further conflicts during the War of 1812 , when thirteen Irish American prisoners of war were executed as traitors after
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3654-474: The English). Allegiance is formed from "liege," from Old French liege , "liege, free", of Germanic origin. The connection with Latin ligare , "to bind," is erroneous. Traditionally, English legal commentators used the term allegiance in two ways. In one sense, it referred to the deference which anyone, even a foreigner, was expected to pay to the institutions of the country where one lived. In
3741-459: The German government passed a law that entitled victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants to become naturalised German citizens. The primary principles of Israeli citizenship is jus sanguinis (citizenship by descent) for Jews and jus soli (citizenship by place of birth) for others. Many theorists suggest that there are two opposing conceptions of citizenship: an economic one, and
3828-528: The Sovereign ( Ex p. Anderson (1861) 3 E & E 487). A natural-born subject owes allegiance wherever they may be, so that where territory is occupied in the course of hostilities by an enemy's force, even if the annexation of the occupied country is proclaimed by the enemy, there can be no change of allegiance during the progress of hostilities on the part of a citizen of the occupied country ( R v Vermaak (1900) 21 NLR 204 (South Africa)). Acquired allegiance
3915-648: The US Congress, such as laws in 1906 , 1917 , and 1924 , would include clauses that denied immigration and naturalization rights to people based on broadly defined racial categories. Supreme Court cases such as Ozawa v. the United States (1922) and U.S. v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923), would later clarify the meaning of the phrase "free white persons," ruling that ethnically Japanese, Indian, and other non-European people were not "white persons", and were therefore ineligible for naturalization under U.S. law. Native Americans were not granted full US citizenship until
4002-496: The United Kingdom that amended and consolidated enactments relating to British nationality . The act introduced administrative procedures for naturalising non-British subjects naturalisation, but preserved the process of denization. The act also introduced the concept of renunciation of British nationality, and provided for the first time that British women who married foreign men should lose their British nationality. This
4089-643: The United States and some other republics, the oath is known as the Pledge of Allegiance. Instead of declaring fidelity to a monarch, the pledge is made to the flag, the republic, and to the core values of the country, specifically liberty and justice . The reciting of the pledge in the United States is voluntary because of the rights guaranteed to the people under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution - specifically,
4176-466: The United States have the paramount authority in American law; likewise, those of the foreign land have paramount authority in their legal system. In such a situation, it may be incumbent on the individual to renounce one of their citizenships, to avoid possibly being forced into situations where countervailing duties are required of them, such as might occur in the event of war. The oath of allegiance
4263-532: The act still contained restrictions regarding who was eligible for US citizenship and retained a national quota system which limited the number of visas given to immigrants based on their national origin, to be fixed "at a rate of one-sixth of one percent of each nationality's population in the United States in 1920". It was not until the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that these immigration quota systems were drastically altered in favor of
4350-437: The citizens of the community. This was not a problem because they all had a strong affinity with the polis; their own destiny and the destiny of the community were strongly linked. Also, citizens of the polis saw obligations to the community as an opportunity to be virtuous, it was a source of honor and respect. In Athens, citizens were both rulers and ruled, important political and judicial offices were rotated and all citizens had
4437-592: The consent of his sovereign was early abandoned in the United States, and Chief Justice John Rutledge also declared in Talbot v. Janson , "a man may, at the same time, enjoy the rights of citizenship under two governments." On July 27, 1868, the day before the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, U.S. Congress declared in the preamble of the Expatriation Act that "the right of expatriation
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#17327760519004524-401: The crown, and acquired rights both within and beyond the colony, and these latter rights could not be affected by the laws of that colony ( Routledge v Low (1868) LR 3 HL 100; 37 LJ Ch 454; 18 LT 874; 16 WR 1081, HL; Reid v Maxwell (1886) 2 TLR 790; Falcon v Famous Players Film Co [1926] 2 KB 474). A resident alien owed allegiance even when the protection of the crown was withdrawn owing to
4611-733: The establishment of the Commonwealth of Nations . As with the EU, one holds Commonwealth citizenship only by being a citizen of a Commonwealth member state. This form of citizenship offers certain privileges within some Commonwealth countries: Although Ireland was excluded from the Commonwealth in 1949 because it declared itself a republic, Ireland is generally treated as if it were still a member. Legislation often specifically provides for equal treatment between Commonwealth countries and Ireland and refers to "Commonwealth countries and Ireland". Ireland's citizens are not classified as foreign nationals in
4698-529: The fundamental laws of the Republic." The 1918 constitution also established the right to vote and be elected to soviets for both men and women "irrespective of religion, nationality, domicile, etc. [...] who shall have completed their eighteenth year by the day of the election." The later constitutions of the USSR would grant universal Soviet citizenship to the citizens of all member republics in concord with
4785-508: The guarantee of freedom of speech , which inherently includes the freedom not to speak. The word used in the Arabic language for allegiance is bay'at (Arabic: بيعة), which means "taking hand". The practice is sanctioned in the Quran by Surah 48:10: "Verily, those who give thee their allegiance, they give it but to Allah Himself". The word is used for the oath of allegiance to an emir . It
4872-683: The importance of freedom . Hosking explained: It can be argued that this growth of slavery was what made Greeks particularly conscious of the value of freedom. After all, any Greek farmer might fall into debt and therefore might become a slave, at almost any time ... When the Greeks fought together, they fought in order to avoid being enslaved by warfare, to avoid being defeated by those who might take them into slavery. And they also arranged their political institutions so as to remain free men. Slavery permitted slave-owners to have substantial free time and enabled participation in public life. Polis citizenship
4959-523: The law of any foreign state or of subjects of such state, and, also, persons who, though born abroad, are British subjects by reason of parentage, may, by declarations of alienage, get rid of British nationality. Emigration to an uncivilized country left British nationality unaffected: indeed the right claimed by all states to follow with their authority their subjects so emigrating was one of the usual and recognized means of colonial expansion. The doctrine that no man can cast off his native allegiance without
5046-421: The modern western conception. The obligations of citizenship were deeply connected with everyday life. To be truly human, one had to be an active citizen to the community, which Aristotle famously expressed: "To take no part in the running of the community's affairs is to be either a beast or a god!" This form of citizenship was based on the obligations of citizens towards the community, rather than rights given to
5133-403: The monarch was called their liege lord, because they should maintain and defend them ( Ex parte Anderson (1861) 3 El & El 487; 121 ER 525; China Navigation Co v Attorney-General (1932) 48 TLR 375; Attorney-General v Nissan [1969] 1 All ER 629; Oppenheimer v Cattermole [1972] 3 All ER 1106). The duty of the crown towards its subjects was to govern and protect them. The reciprocal duty of
5220-624: The nation's boundaries who did not fit the racial criteria for citizenship. Subjects would have no voting rights, could not hold any position within the state, and possessed none of the other rights and civic responsibilities conferred on citizens. All women were to be conferred "subject" status upon birth, and could only obtain "citizen" status if they worked independently or if they married a German citizen (see women in Nazi Germany ). The final category, aliens, referred to those who were citizens of another state, who also had no rights. In 2021,
5307-421: The nation-state, but the term can also apply at the subnational level. Subnational entities may impose requirements, of residency or otherwise, which permit citizens to participate in the political life of that entity or to enjoy benefits provided by the government of that entity. But in such cases, those eligible are also sometimes seen as "citizens" of the relevant state, province, or region. An example of this
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#17327760519005394-458: The nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship. An agreement is known as the amended EC Treaty established certain minimal rights for European Union citizens. Article 12 of the amended EC Treaty guaranteed a general right of non-discrimination within the scope of the Treaty. Article 18 provided
5481-433: The occupation of an enemy, because the absence of the crown's protection was temporary and involuntary ( de Jager v Attorney-General of Natal [1907] AC 326). Legal allegiance was due when an alien took an oath of allegiance required for a particular office under the crown. By the Naturalization Act 1870 ( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 14), it was made possible for British subjects to renounce their nationality and allegiance, and
5568-442: The other sense, it meant national character and the subjection due to that character. The English doctrine, which was at one time adopted in the United States, asserted that allegiance was indelible: "Nemo potest exuere patriam". As the law stood prior to 1870, every person who by birth or naturalisation satisfied the conditions set forth, even if removed in infancy to another country where their family resided, owed an allegiance to
5655-531: The passage of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924. However, even well into the 1960s, some state laws prevented Native Americans from exercising their full rights as citizens, such as the right to vote. In 1962, New Mexico became the last state to enfranchise Native Americans. It was not until the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that the racial and gender restrictions for naturalization were explicitly abolished. However,
5742-407: The passing of the act. Courtenay Ilbert described the act as a Consolidation Act , given that the act, which amended British nationality law , also consolidated various enactments relating to that particular branch of law. Section eighteen and the schedule to the act were repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1883 ( 46 & 47 Vict. c. 39). The act was wholly repealed by section 28 of, and
5829-1016: The person of the reigning sovereign is not sufficient. Loyalty requires affection also to the office of the sovereign, attachment to royalty, attachment to the law and to the constitution of the realm, and he who would, by force or by fraud, endeavour to prostrate that law and constitution, though he may retain his affection for its head, can boast but an imperfect and spurious species of loyalty ( R v O'Connell (1844) 7 ILR 261). There were four kinds of allegiances ( Rittson v Stordy (1855) 3 Sm & G 230; De Geer v Stone (1882) 22 Ch D 243; Isaacson v Durant (1886) 54 LT 684; Gibson, Gavin v Gibson [1913] 3 KB 379; Joyce v DPP [1946] AC 347; Collingwood v Pace (1661) O Bridg 410; Lane v Bennett (1836) 1 M & W 70; Lyons Corp v East India Co (1836) 1 Moo PCC 175; Birtwhistle v Vardill (1840) 7 Cl & Fin 895; R v Lopez, R v Sattler (1858) Dears & B 525; Ex p Brown (1864) 5 B & S 280); (a) Ligeantia naturalis, absoluta, pura et indefinita , and this originally
5916-402: The polis. These small-scale organic communities were generally seen as a new development in world history, in contrast to the established ancient civilizations of Egypt or Persia, or the hunter-gatherer bands elsewhere. From the viewpoint of the ancient Greeks, a person's public life could not be separated from their private life, and Greeks did not distinguish between the two worlds according to
6003-492: The polity, as well as identify with the polity, possibly acquiring a passport . Though through discriminatory laws, like disfranchisement and outright apartheid citizens have been made second-class citizens . Historically, populations of states were mostly subjects , while citizenship was a particular status which originated in the rights of urban populations, like the rights of the male public of cities and republics , particularly ancient city-states , giving rise to
6090-468: The prestige and good name of Ghana and respect the symbols of Ghana. Examples of national symbols includes the Ghanaian flag, coat of arms, money, and state sword. These national symbols must be treated with respect and high esteem by citizens since they best represent Ghanaians. Apart from responsibilities, citizens also have rights. Some of the rights are the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness,
6177-511: The principles of equality under the law , civic participation in government, and notions that "no one citizen should have too much power for too long", but Rome offered relatively generous terms to its captives, including chances for lesser forms of citizenship. If Greek citizenship was an "emancipation from the world of things", the Roman sense increasingly reflected the fact that citizens could act upon material things as well as other citizens, in
6264-428: The principles of non-discrimination laid out in the original 1918 constitution of Russia. Nazism , the German variant of twentieth-century fascism, classified inhabitants of the country into three main hierarchical categories, each of which would have different rights in relation to the state: citizens, subjects, and aliens. The first category, citizens, were to possess full civic rights and responsibilities. Citizenship
6351-583: The relation, that continue to reflect uncertainty about what citizenship is supposed to mean. Some unresolved issues regarding citizenship include questions about what is the proper balance between duties and rights . Another is a question about what is the proper balance between political citizenship versus social citizenship. Some thinkers see benefits with people being absent from public affairs, since too much participation such as revolution can be destructive, yet too little participation such as total apathy can be problematic as well. Citizenship can be seen as
6438-542: The right to speak and vote in the political assembly. In the Roman Empire , citizenship expanded from small-scale communities to the entirety of the empire. Romans realized that granting citizenship to people from all over the empire legitimized Roman rule over conquered areas. Roman citizenship was no longer a status of political agency, as it had been reduced to a judicial safeguard and the expression of rule and law. Rome carried forth Greek ideas of citizenship such as
6525-408: The right to worship, right to run for elected office and right to express oneself. Many thinkers such as Giorgio Agamben in his work extending the biopolitical framework of Foucault 's History of Sexuality in the book, Homo Sacer , point to the concept of citizenship beginning in the early city-states of ancient Greece , although others see it as primarily a modern phenomenon dating back only
6612-430: The sense of buying or selling property, possessions, titles, goods. One historian explained: The person was defined and represented through his actions upon things; in the course of time, the term property came to mean, first, the defining characteristic of a human or other being; second, the relation which a person had with a thing; and third, the thing defined as the possession of some person. Roman citizenship reflected
6699-494: The sovereign's protection, therefore they owe the sovereign a local obedience or allegiance ( R v Cowle (1759) 2 Burr 834; Low v Routledge (1865) 1 Ch App 42; Re Johnson, Roberts v Attorney-General [1903] 1 Ch 821; Tingley v Muller [1917] 2 Ch 144; Rodriguez v Speyer [1919] AC 59; Johnstone v Pedlar [1921] 2 AC 262; R v Tucker (1694) Show Parl Cas 186; R v Keyn (1876) 2 Ex D 63; Re Stepney Election Petn, Isaacson v Durant (1886) 17 QBD 54); (d) A legal obedience, where
6786-473: The subject towards the crown was that of allegiance. At common law, allegiance was a true and faithful obedience of the subject due to their sovereign. As the subject owed to their sovereign their true and faithful allegiance and obedience, so the sovereign Natural allegiance and obedience is an incident inseparable to every subject, for parte Anderson (1861) 3 El & El 487; 121 ER 525). Natural-born subjects owe allegiance wherever they may be. Where territory
6873-606: The time of the revolution , the promise was "to be true and faithful to the king and his heirs, and truth and faith to bear of life and limb and terrene honour , and not to know or hear of any ill or damage intended him without defending him therefrom." This was thought to favour the doctrine of absolute non-resistance, and, accordingly, the Convention Parliament enacted the form that has been in use since that time – "I do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty ..." In
6960-466: The ways in which that nationality is lost were defined. So British subjects voluntarily naturalized in a foreign state are deemed aliens from the time of such naturalization, unless, in the case of persons naturalized before the passing of the act, they had declared their desire to remain British subjects within two years from the passing of the act. Persons who, from having been born within British territory, are British subjects, but who, at birth, came under
7047-517: Was a kind of bond uniting people. Roman citizenship was more impersonal, universal, multiform, having different degrees and applications. During the European Middle Ages , citizenship was usually associated with cities and towns (see medieval commune ), and applied mainly to middle-class folk. Titles such as burgher , grand burgher (German Großbürger ) and the bourgeoisie denoted political affiliation and identity in relation to
7134-613: Was a radical break from the common law doctrine that citizenship could not be removed, renounced, or revoked. The Naturalization Bill had its first reading in the House of Lords on 25 February 1870, presented by the Lord Chancellor , William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley . The bill had its second reading in the House of Lords on 3 March 1870 and was committed to a committee of the whole house , which met on 10 March 1870 and 17 March 1870 and reported on 17 March 1870, with amendments. The amended bill had its third reading in
7221-404: Was acquired by naturalisation or denization. Denization, or ligeantia acquisita , appears to be threefold ( Thomas v Sorrel (1673) 3 Keb 143); Local allegiance was due by an alien while in the protection of the crown. All friendly resident aliens incurred all the obligations of subjects ( The Angelique (1801) 3 Ch Rob App 7). An alien, coming into a colony, also became, temporarily, a subject of
7308-519: Was conferred only on males of German (or so-called " Aryan ") heritage who had completed military service, and could be revoked at any time by the state. The Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 established racial criteria for citizenship in the German Reich , and because of this law Jews and others who could not "prove German racial heritage" were stripped of their citizenship. The second category, subjects, referred to all others who were born within
7395-432: Was marked by exclusivity. Inequality of status was widespread; citizens (πολίτης politēs < πόλις 'city') had a higher status than non-citizens, such as women, slaves, and resident foreigners ( metics ). The first form of citizenship was based on the way people lived in the ancient Greek times, in small-scale organic communities of the polis. The obligations of citizenship were deeply connected to one's everyday life in
7482-422: Was necessary to fit Aristotle's definition of the besouled (the animate) to obtain citizenship: neither the sacred olive tree nor spring would have any rights. An essential part of the framework of Greco-Roman ethics is the figure of Homo Sacer or the bare life. Historian Geoffrey Hosking in his 2005 Modern Scholar lecture course suggested that citizenship in ancient Greece arose from an appreciation for
7569-521: Was not until the abolition of slavery following the American Civil War that African Americans were granted citizenship rights. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution , ratified on July 9, 1868, stated that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Two years later,
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