About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

14 B.U. L. Rev. 129 (1934)
The Changing Basis of Women's Nationality

handle is hein.journals/bulr14 and id is 131 raw text is: THE CHANGING BASIS OF WOMEN'S NATIONALITY By BLANCHE CROZIERA I That a wife's nationality should be an incident of the nationality of her husband, is a conception entirely in harmony with the principles of the common law. Yet, surprisingly, such was not the rule of the common law. That it was not, was due to an accident, a collision be- tween two separate principles. Once an Englishman, always an Eng- lishman, was one of these principles; and the submergence of the identity of the wife on marriage, was the other. In themselves, they are harmonious; in fact, they are products of the same cast of mind. The nationality of the lawgiver was naturally more potent than any other nationality; and the sex of the lawgiver was naturally more po- tent than the other sex. But in the case of an international marriage these two principles found their tracks crossed. At the point of cross- ing, one of them had to yield. And in a time when international trans- actions were few and all foreigners suspect, it easily appeared that the nationality of the lawgiver was so much more potent than any other that even in the person of a native-born woman it must prevail over a foreign nationality; likewise it was a boon not to be bestowed upon a person of foreign birth. This conclusion, however, was not permanent. There was a continued interaction between these two principles. This interac- tion is well shown in the periods of transition in which an alien woman marrying a national lost her own nationality, but a woman national marrying an alien did not lose her nationality. At length the original rule became reversed, the principle of inalienable allegiance retired, and the husband's nationality prevailed over the wife's in all cases. That rule was gradually adopted in various countries and became generally established. It persisted long after other and entirely similar elements in the common-law conception of marriage had been discarded. During the past decade, or a little more, it has been greatly undermined; and today there seems to be every indication that its complete disappearance is only a matter of that generous allowance of time which all such changes require. In searching for the source of the idea that the wife's nationality follows that of the husband, some writers have believed that it goes back to a custom among primitive people whereby the wife became a AA.B. (1915) Radcliffe College; LL.B. (cum laude 1933) Boston University.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most