NATURALIZATION, the act of renounc ing allegiance to one government and acquiring the rights of citizenship under another. In its broadest sense it signifies the act of adopting a foreigner into the body politic and of clothing him with the privileges of citizenship. This may result from the annexation of territory, the marriage of an alien woman to a citizen, the naturalization of the parents of children, the purchase of real estate in some countries, serv ice in the army and the navy, etc. In a more restricted sense the term has reference to the issuance of a certificate of citizenship by a court or an administrative officer after the fulfilment by the applicant of certain prescribed conditions. With a few exceptions the rights of the natural ized person are equal in all respects to those of the native-born citizen; thus in the United States, while the civil rights are the same, the Constitution excludes the naturalized citizen from the offices of President and Vice-Presi dent. In Great Britain a naturalized subject en joys all the political and civil rights of a native born subject except that when he is in the ter ritory of his original state he is not entitled to protection unless the consent of his orginal gov ernment to be naturalized abroad was obtained. The British naturalization commission of 1901, however, recommended that this exception be abolished. The government of the United States makes no such exception in the case of naturalized citizens. They are protected equally with naturalized citizens in their country of ori gin whether the consent of their governments to emigrate was obtained or not. The act of be coming naturalized, however, does not abrogate the claims of the government under which the person concerned had previously lived and which were operative at the time such person changed his allegiance, especially in the case of attempts to avoid compulsory service in the army of the native country, and the laws of the United States do not afford protection for aliens who simply become citizens of this coun try for the purpose of escaping such service.
But a distinction is made between the obliga tions of military service that have accrued at the time of emigration and those which have not. In the latter case the government insists that the citizen cannot be held by his original state to a performance of the obligation.
The majority of treaties with other countries call for a continuous residence of five years before admission, the notable exception being Great Britain, with whom the treaty allows of interexchange of citizenship with no stated period of residence. Treaties of this nature were negotiated with the North German con federation, and also with Bavaria, in 1862, but the Bavarian treaty will not allow of natives, who have emigrated to other countries before serving the required time in the army, again becoming permanent residents until they are 32 years of age; but if a certificate of immigration be granted by the terms of this treaty, natural ization does away with the military obligation. Such treaties were also made in 1868 with Ba den, Belgium, Bavaria, Hesse, Mexico, the North German confederation, and Wiirtem burg; in 1869 with Sweden and Norway; in 1870 with Austria and Great Britain; and in 1872 with Denmark. At present all states ex cept Russia and Turkey allow their citizens or subjects to expatriate themselves voluntarily and to adopt a new allegiance. The two latter states, however, refuse to recognize the legality of naturalization certificates granted to subjects by foreign governments without their consent previously obtained. Other states attach cer tain conditions to the exercise of the right of expatriation. The laws of the United States, however, declare it to be an inalienable right of all peoples and the consent of the government is not required.
In the United States, Congress by the Con stitution has exclusive power over the natural ization of citizens, and the power cannot be exercised by the individual States, but this does not prohibit the State from granting the rights and privileges of State citizenship, such as vot ing at State elections, holding offices, etc. See