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
Top Related