Tag: Citizenship
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Nicholas Reed Langen: The Use and Abuse of Citizenship Deprivation: SSHD v Kolicaj
Any British citizen that happens to hold citizenship for another country could find themselves in an invidious position. If the Home Secretary decides that it would be ‘conducive to the public good’, they can single-handedly strip a person of their citizenship, and with it, their right to remain in the country. So long as the deprivation…
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Donnchadh Greene and Gabriel Tan: Statutory Interpretation and Citizenship: D4 v SSHD and PRCBC v SSHD
This piece considers two recent decisions – one by the Court of Appeal (“CA”): D4 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 33, and the other by the Supreme Court (“SC”): R (The Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022]…
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Jeremy Ogilvie-Harris: A Comparative Perspective on the Constitutionality of Clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill
Introduction The Nationality and Borders Bill (NABB) proposes controversial amendments to the UK’s citizenship deprivation power under s. 40 British Nationality Act 1981 (BNA). The Home Secretary seeks a power to dispense with the requirement to give notice of deprivation decisions to those affected, in an act of “striking back” (Harlow and Rawlings at Chamberlain J’s…
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Alastair Richardson: The Legality of Home Office Fees
Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens v Secretary of State for the Home Department (PRCBC) concerned a challenge to the lawfulness of fees charged to children applying to be registered as British citizens. The fees have a serious adverse impact on the ability of many children to apply for registration. As David Richards…
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Daniella Lock: The Shamima Begum Case: Difficulties with ‘democratic accountability’ as a justification for judicial deference in the national security context
No doubt much will be written on the Supreme Court’s Shamima Begum ruling handed down on 26 February. The ruling has a number of notable features. In particular, a high level of deference was afforded to the executive which seems to contrast with the Supreme Court’s approach in high profile constitutional cases of recent years…
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Ronan McCrea: Brexit EU Citizenship Rights of UK Nationals and the Court of Justice
Quite a stir has been generated by the decision of a Dutch court to make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union on the issue of the EU citizenship rights of UK nationals post-Brexit. The Article 267 procedure allows a national court to pause a case before it in order to…
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Jonathan Collinson: Disqualifying Dual-National Parliamentarians in Australia: A Problem of Legal Status or of Their True ‘Belonging’ to Australia?
It has been reported that the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Barnaby Joyce, has referred himself to the Australian High Court over his eligibility to sit in Australia’s Parliament. It was discovered that Mr Joyce was a dual national of Australia and New Zealand, a fact of which Mr Joyce claims he was entirely ignorant.…
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Alison Young: Towards an Expository Justice Approach to Human Rights Adudication?
The recent Supreme Court Case of R (Johnson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, [2016] UKSC 56, appears at first glance to be a straightforward human rights claim. Lady Hale, giving the agreed judgment of the court, concluded that Johnson’s Convention rights had been breached. Because of the specific nature of the challenge brought by…
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Colin Harvey: Citizenship and Political Rights in Ireland
Cross-posted from RightsNI. Ireland’s system of voting rights (for Irish citizens) places particular emphasis on residency within the state. With some limited exceptions, there is a near blanket exclusion of citizens outside of the state. The position is now widely questioned. In September 2013, the Convention on the Constitution voted in favour of proposals to…
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Ruvi Ziegler: The ‘Brexit’ Referendum: We Need to Talk about the (General Election) Franchise
In its 27 May 2015 Queen’s speech, the Conservative government announced that ‘early legislation will be introduced to provide for an in/out referendum’. The following day, it introduced the European Union Referendum Bill, which passed its third reading in the House of Commons on 7 September 2015 (by 316 votes to 53). The second reading…