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The term British subject has had a number of different legal meanings over time. Formerly 'British subject' was used to denote ''de facto'' citizenship of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, and until 1949 was used to refer generally to any person born or naturalised in the United Kingdom or the British Empire, including the independent dominions (but not including protectorates). The term had a more complex interpretation between 1949 and 1983 and the move to independence of many of the colonies, with subject status existing alongside citizenship of an individual country or colony. Currently the term 'British subject' refers, in British nationality law, to a limited class of people defined by Part IV of the British Nationality Act 1981. Under that Act, two groups of people became "British subjects"; the first were people from the Republic of Ireland born before 1949 who already claimed subject status, and the second covered a number of people who had previously been considered "British subjects without citizenship", and were not considered citizens of any other country. This second group were predominantly residents of colonies which had become independent, but who had not become citizens of the new country. The status cannot be inherited, and is lost on the acquisition of any other citizenship; it will therefore cease to exist on the death of the last remaining subjects. The term 'subject' is used rather than 'citizen' because in a monarchy the monarch is the source of authority in whose name all legal power in civil and military law is exercised. The people of a monarchy in former times being regarded as the monarch's subjects who were under certain obligations such as owing allegiance to, and thereby entitled to the protection of, the Crown. == Prior to 1949 == Before 1949, every person born within the dominions and allegiance of the English and later British Crown was, based on common law, an English and later British subject. To be a subject required only that a person be born in any territory under the sovereignty of the Crown. The only exception in common law was that children of foreign ambassadors took the nationality of their fathers, who were immune from local jurisdiction and from duties of allegiance. From time to time, statutes were passed expanding the class of persons who held the status of subject. The medieval statute 25 Edw. III st. 2 naturalised the children of English parents born overseas.〔(Sir William Blackstone, ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'' (1765–1769), ch. 10 )〕 In ''Calvin's Case'' in 1608,〔(1608) 7 Coke Report 1a, 77 ER 377〕 the Court of Exchequer Chamber ruled that a Scottish subject of King James VI of Scotland, who was also King of England, was by virtue of his allegiance to the King's person not an alien, but a natural-born subject under English law. Entitlement to the status of British subject was first codified by the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914, which came into effect on 1 January 1915.〔http://www.britainusa.com/sections/articles_show_nt1.asp?d=1&i=41001&L1=10080&L2=41001&a=25316〕 Within the British Empire, the main class of people who were not British subjects were the rulers of native states formally under the protection of the British Crown, and their peoples. Many such smaller states, especially in India, were for most practical purposes administered by agents of the imperial government, but the sovereignty of all rested in their own local rulers and not in the British Crown, and all such persons are considered to have been born outside the sovereignty and allegiance of the Crown, so were (and, where these persons are still alive, still are) known as British Protected Persons.〔(UK Border Agency, ''Who is a British protected person?'' )〕 Between 1947 and 1951 each of the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations created its own national citizenship (the Irish Free State had done so in 1935, but was excluded from the Commonwealth in 1949 because it declared itself a republic). In 1948, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the British Nationality Act 1948, which came into effect on 1 January 1949 and introduced the concept of ''Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies''. The ''Canadian Citizenship Act 1946'' came into effect on 1 January 1947. The Australian ''Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948'' came into force on 26 January 1949. In all cases, the national citizenship co-existed with the continuing status of British subject. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British subject」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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