ALLEGIANCE, the duty which a subject or citizen owes to the State or to the sovereign of the State to which he belongs. It is often used by English legal commentators in a larger sense, divided by them into natural and local, the latter applying to the deference which even a foreigner must pay to the institutions of the country in which he happens to live ; but it is in its proper sense, in which it indicates national character and the subjection due to that character, that the word is important. In that sense it represents the feudal liege homage, which could be due only to one lord, while simple homage might be due to every lord under whom the subject held land. The English doctrine asserted that allegiance was indelible : Nemo potest exuere patriam.
It was said to be a debt and duty to the sovereign co-extensive with the life of the subject. As Blackstone wrote: "It is a prin ciple of universal law that the natural-born subject of one Power cannot by any act of his own (no, not by swearing allegiance to another) put off or discharge his natural allegiance to the former; for this natural allegiance was intrinsic . . . and cannot be di verted without the concurrent act of that Prince to whom it was first due." This doctrine was one of the causes of the war of with the United States, which had already rejected it. Eventually, after much controversy with Great Britain, Congress in 1868 ordained that "The right of expatriation is a natural and inher ent right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and one of the "fundamental principles of the Government." In the same year a Royal Commission was set up by the British cabinet to enquire into the subject, resulting in the Naturalization Act 187o, whereby for the first time British subjects, whether natural-born or naturalized, were enabled, apart from an Act of Parliament or cession of British territory, to renounce their nationality and allegiance. This right of expatriation was substantially re-enacted by the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914-22. By s. 13 "a British subject, who when in a foreign State and not under any disability, by obtaining a certificate of naturalization or by any other voluntary and formal act becomes naturalized therein, shall thenceforth be deemed to have ceased to be a Brit ish subject." And by s. 14 a natural-born British subject who has become a subject of a foreign State may, if of full age and not under disability, make a declaration of alienage. But it was held in Lynch's Case (1903), 1• K.B. 444, that a British subject could not become naturalized in an enemy's country during time of war. Taking an oath of allegiance to the enemy State was an act of treason. It would appear, however, from the decision in Pedlar v. Johnson (1920), 2 I.R. 45o, that a British subject may become naturalized in a neutral State and engage in acts of hostility against his State of origin without sacrificing his rights as a friendly alien. Before a certificate of naturalization can become operative, the applicant must take the following oath of allegiance: "I, A. B., swear' by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty, King George the Fifth, His Heirs and Successors, according to law." Emigration to an uncivilized country leaves British nationality unaffected : indeed the right claimed by all States to follow with their authority their subjects so emigrating is one of the usual and recognized means of colonial expansion. (See OATH, NATIONALITY, and NATURALIZATION.) See Salmond, "Citizenship and Allegiance" in the Law Quart. Rev., vols. 17 and 18 ; and J. A. Foote, Private Inter. Law, 5th ed. (1925) .
(J. W.; H. H. L. B.)