PART IV.

EXPATRIATION.

CHAPTER I.

RENUNCIATION OR ABANDONMENT OF CITIZENSHIP.

89. Right of expatriation.

90. How effected; in general.

91. Residence abroad.

92. Military or naval service in a foreign country.

93. Accepting public office in a foreign country.

94. Agents of American enterprises.

95. When residence abroad is due to ill health or financial condition.

96. Taking oath of allegiance to foreign powers.

97. Missionaries.

98. Residents in semi-barbarous country.

99. Resumption of nationality.

89. Right of expatriation.— Expatriation is the voluntary renunciation or abandonment of nationality and allegiance.

While the naturalization laws of the United States have from the beginning been based on the principle that the right to change one's allegiance is a natural and inherent right, there was considerable difference of opinion in this country, prior to 1868, on the question whether the English doctrine of perpetual allegiance obtained here. The right of a citizen to devest himself of his allegiance to the United States without the consent of the government was denied by able American jurists, but the political branch of this government has uniformly held that the

doctrine of indelible allegiance was not in force in the United States.

The question was definitely settled in this country by the act of Congress of July 27, 1868 (15 Stat. at L. 223, chap. 249), which declares that "the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent right of all people."

This act, which has been embodied in the Revised Statutes, reads as follows:

"Sec. 1999 [U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1269]. Whereas the right of expatriation 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 whereas, in the recognition of this principle, this government has freely received emigrants from all nations, and invested them with the rights of citizenship; and whereas it is claimed that such American citizens, with their descendants, are subjects of foreign states, owing alle giance to the governments thereof; and whereas it is necessary to the maintenance of public peace that this claim of foreign allegiance should be promptly and finally disavowed: Therefore, any declaration, instruction, opinion, order, or decision of any officer of the United States which denies, restricts, impairs, or questions the right of expatriation, is declared inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the Republic.

"Sec. 2000 [U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1270]. All naturalized citizens of the United States, while in foreign countries, are entitled to and shall receive from this government the same protection of persons and property which is accorded to nativeborn citizens.

"Sec. 2001 [U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1270]. Whenever it is made known to the President that any citizen of the United States has been unjustly deprived of his liberty by or under the authority of any foreign government, it shall be the duty of the

President forthwith to demand of that government the reasons of such imprisonment; and if it appears to be wrongful and in violation of the rights of American citizenship, the President shall forthwith demand the release of such citizen, and if the release so demanded is unreasonably delayed or refused, the President shall use such means, not amounting to acts of war, as he may think necessary and proper to obtain or effectuate the release; and all the facts and proceedings relative thereto shall as soon as practicable be communicated by the President to Congress.'

Treaties recognizing the right of expatriation, with various modifications in detail, were concluded between the United States and the North German Union (15 Stat. at L. 615), Bavaria (15 Stat. at L. 661), Baden (16 Stat. at L. 731), Württemberg (16 Stat. at L. 735), and Belgium (16 Stat. at L. 747), in 1868; with Hesse (16 Stat. at L. 743), and Sweden and Norway (17 Stat. at L. 809), in 1869; with Austria (17 Stat. at L. 833), and England (16 Stat. at L. 775), in 1870; and with Denmark (17 Stat. at L. 941), in 1872.

One of the chief causes of the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain was the rigor with which the latter government applied the doctrine of inalienable allegiance. British cruisers took from American vessels on the high seas naturalized American citizens of British origin, and impressed them for service in the royal navy, on the grounds that they were British subjects by birth, and that no forms gone through in America could devest them of their British nationality. This was vigorously resisted by the United States.

While the war did not settle this question, opinion in England gradually changed, and by the naturalization act of 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. 105, chap. 14), which shortly preceded the treaty with the United States, the old doctrine of the common law was aban

doned, and it was declared that "any British subject who has at any time before, or may at any time after, the passing of this act, when in any foreign state, and not under any disability, voluntarily become naturalized in such state, shall, from and after the time of his so having become naturalized in such foreign state, be deemed to have ceased to be a British subject, and be regarded as an alien." See Lawrence, Principles of International Law, 196, 197.

90. How effected; in general.

The act of Congress of 1868

(15 Stat. at L. 223, chap. 249, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1269), does not define what steps must be taken by a citizen before it can be held that he has become denationalized. In fact, there is no mode of renunciation of citizenship prescribed by our laws. Whether expatriation has taken place in any case must be determined by the facts and circumstances of the particular case. No general rule that will apply to all cases can be laid down.

By whatever means a citizen assumes the status of a new citizenship, he must be deemed to have relinquished his former

status.

Chief Justice Marshall, in Murray v. The Charming Betsy, 2 Cranch, 119, 2 L. ed. 226, said that when a citizen by his own act has made himself the subject of a foreign power, his situation is completely changed, and that the act certainly places him out of the protection of the United States while within the territory of the sovereign to whom he has sworn allegiance.

The most obvious and effective form of expatriation is by naturalization in another country. But this is not the only mode by which expatriation may be effected.

Rulings of the Executive in a number of concrete cases, which may be regarded as typical, are included in the following sections to show how and under what circumstances it has been held that expatriation has been accomplished.