THE BRITISH NATIONALITY ACT 1981

• Act of Parliament concerning British nationality

• The basis of British nationality law since 1 January 1983

THE BRITISH NATIONALITY ACT 1981:

HISTORYHISTORY

• mid-1970s: the British Government dicedes to update the British Nationality Act 1948

• 1977: a Green Paper was produced to reform the nationality code

• 1980: a White Paper was produced containing the government’s specific plans for change

• 1981: the new British Nationality Act received Royal Assent

• 1 January 1983: the British Nationality Act 1981 came into force

ACT’S PURPOSESACT’S PURPOSES

Reclassification of CUKC

Modification of Jus soli

Other changes

ACT’S PURPOSES:

RECLASSIFICATIONRECLASSIFICATION

Three categories of Citizeship of United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC):

– British citizenship

– British Dependent Territories citizenship (BDTC)

– British Overseas citizenship

ACT’S PURPOSES:

RECLASSIFICATIONRECLASSIFICATION

1962: with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act not all CUKCs had the Right of Abode in the UK:

– the Act wanted to restore the link between citizenship and right of abode

– it guranteed British citizenship would carry a right of abode in the UK

– the other categories of British nationality would not hold such status

ACT’S PURPOSES:

RECLASSIFICATIONRECLASSIFICATION

After 1977’s Green Paper all three categories of British Nationality (British citizenship, BDTC, British Overseas citizens) got the Right of Adobe in the United Knigdom

ACT’S PURPOSES:

JUS SOLIJUS SOLI

The Act modified Jus soli’s application in British Nationality:

– it is necessary for at least one parent of a UK-born child to be a British citizen or a permanent resident of the United Kingdom

– the most of children born in the UK still acquire British citizenship at birth

ACT’S PURPOSES:

OTHER CHANGESOTHER CHANGES

• Mothers were allowed to pass British citizenship to their children

• Rght of Abode could no longer be acquired by non-British citizens

• Commonwealth and Irish citizens had to apply for naturalisation to acquire British citizenship

• Women married to British men could no longer acquire British citizenship purely by marriage

• British Crown Colonies were renamed British Dependent Territories

THE SUPREME COURT ACT 1981

• Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom

• it defines the structure of the Supreme Court of England and Wales and includes:

• it’s being amended by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 which established a new Supreme Court of the UK and changed the title into the Senior Courts Act 1981

– the Court of Appeal

– the High Court of Justice

– the Crown Court

THE REPRESENTATION OF PEOPLE ACT

The Representation of the Act 1983 changed the British electoral process in the following ways :

• amended the 1969 Representation of the People Act

• stated that a convicted person cannot vote at any parliamentary or local election whilst in prison

• laid down the appeals process in local elections