NATIONALITY. Nationality is both an ethnic and a legal term. As an ethnological concept it has reference to the racial status of an individual or group. Thus we speak of an individual possessing German, Polish, Italian or Greek nationality, without regard to his citi zenship, for the terms citizenship and national ity are not synonymous. In general, people who have a common ethnic origin, who speak the same language and who have a common literature belong to the same nationality al though they may be citizens or subjects of dif ferent states. Thus we find large numbers of persons of Polish nationality in Germany, Aus tria, Russia and other states; Germans in large numbers are found not only in Germany, but in Austria, Switzerland and other countries; per sons of Jewish nationality are widely scattered over the world and are citizens or subjects of many states. States and nations are, therefore, by no means identical; some states, like Aus tria, Hungary, Russia and Switzerland, em brace within their territorial limits various nationalities. On the other hand a nation may extend beyond the limits of a single state. Thus the French nation embraces practically the whole of the French Republic and the larger part of Belgium. The Germanic nation ex tends beyond the limits of the German empire into Austria and Switzerland. The tendency of modern times is in the direction of identifica tion of states and nations, that is, toward the organization of states with boundary lines which coincide with those of nations, this on the principle that the bringing of peoples hav ing a common ethnic origin and language under the same state organization conduces to na tional unity and stability. The organization of the German and Italian states along national lines during the last century was in accord with this tendency. Disregard of this principle, as for example, by the Vienna Congress in 1815 which undertook to reorganize the states of Europe without regard to considerations of nationality, has led to unfortunate results. Ex perience teaches that ethnic homogeneity is one of the most powerful sources of political strength and writers are not lacking who main tain that everywhere the boundaries of states and nations should be coterminous, that is, every nation should be organized into a sepa rate and distinct state and that no state should embrace within its territorial limits more than one nation or nationality. In accordance with this theory the Polish nation which was until recently embraced within the limits of three different states has been brought under a single state organization; the Danish, French and Polish parts of Germany have been detached and united to the states to which ethnically they properly belong or organized into new states; the Italian portions of Austria have been united to the Italian state and so on.
As a term of. municipal and international law nationality has reference to the status of an individual as a member of a particular state. In this sense the term is synonymous with citi zenship (See CITIZENSHIP AND EDUCATION) though not invariably, for an individual may for certain purposes be a °national)) of a par ticular state without being a citizen or subject in the full sense of the term. The term may also have reference to the national status of a ship or cargo. Thus the liability of a ship or cargo to capture during war depends upon its nationality just as the right of an individual to the protection of a particular government or his liability to military service depends upon his nationality.
The nationality of an individual is deter mined by municipal or state law while that of a ship or cargo is regulated for the most part by the rules of international law. As a conse quence of the former principle it may and does frequently happen that two or more states lay claim to the allegiance of the same person. In that case the individual possesses a double na tionality. Likewise it may happen that an indi vidual is without any nationality at all, that is, he is staatlos or heimatlos, as the Germans say. Cases of dual nationality arise from the exist ence of two conflicting systems for determining nationality. These two systems are known as thejus soli and the jus sanguinis. According to the former rule nationality is primarily de termined by the place of birth; according to the latter, by the nationality of the parents. The jus soli rule grew up in Europe during the feu dal period and in time it became the general law on the subject on the continent of Europe. In the later Middle Ages, however, it was largely superseded by the jus sanguinis rule which originated in the Roman law. Accord ing to the strict principle of the !us soli all per sons born within the jurisdiction of a particular state, regardless of whether the parents be citi zens or aliens, are deemed to be citizens of that state. Likewise all children born abroad, even though their parents be citizens, are regarded as aliens. On the other hand, according to the strict principle of the jus sanguinis all persons born within the jurisdiction of a particular state, of parents who are aliens, are themselves aliens, while those born abroad of citizen pa rents take the nationality of their parents (or rather that of the father, in case of legitimate children, and that of the mother, in case of ille gitimate children).