LAWS OF SARDINIA.' The civil code of Sardinia of 1837, known as the "Codice Albertino," contains the following among other provisions respecting aliens: "19. A child born abroad of a father who enjoys civil rights is also a subject, and exercises all the rights of one." "24. A child born in the State of an alien who has established his domicile therein, with intent to remain permanently, is considered a subject." "The intention to establish a permanent domicile is shown by an uninterrupted residence of ten years for other than commercial purposes." "42. Aliens who have been naturalized lose the privileges of naturalization by an absence from the kingdom for one year without the King's permission.” CONSCRIPTION LAW.2 The army law of the Kingdom of Italy is very strict. (Regolamento sul Reclutamento dell' Esercito:" March 31, 1855.) SEC. 21. The sons of an alien born within the State, who are comprised within the terms of the 24th article of the civil code, are considered as citizens, and must inscribe their names, or cause them to be inscribed, on the levy list of the communes in which they reside. SEC. 22. Aliens and their sons who are admitted to enjoy civil rights, and are presumed to be citizens according to the civil code, are obliged to inscribe their names in like manner, unless the class to which they belong by age has furnished its contingent. SEC. 23. Aliens who, according to the code, are considered citizens, or have been naturalized, must inscribe their names and satisfy the obligations of the levy, although they may be required for military service and maintained to be subjects of their native state. SEC. 24. The sons of a naturalized citizen born before his naturalization must be inscribed on the list of their last place of residence in the state. SEC. 25. Naturalization abroad, without the King's permission, does not exempt from the conscription, and the inscription of the name must be at the last place of residence within the state. SEC. 26. Diplomatic and consular agents abroad to send to the minister of war every year lists of the citizens resident within their jurisdiction who are liable to the conscription. Such persons to be warned that they are required to return to their native country to fulfill their obligations, under penalty of incurring the law for the punishment of contumacy. Regulations made for persons residing in countries distant more than six hundred miles off, with certain reservations, and for the case of those who are undergoing legal punishment in a foreign country. REVISED ITALIAN CODE. By a decree of the 2d of April, 1865, the government was authorized to publish a new revised civil code for the Italian kingdom, and this code was accordingly prepared and came into operation on the 1st of January, 1866. The code is of great interest and importance as being the last code published founded on the Code Napoléon. It may therefore be supposed to contain all the additions and alterations which experience has proved requisite. An official copy has been furnished by Sir A. Paget for use in this memorandum.3 The following is a translation of the provisions of the first book of the code : "Of citizenship and the enjoyment of civil rights. "1. Every citizen enjoys civil rights who has not been deprived of them by a penal sentence. "2. Communes, provinces, civil and ecclesiastical establishments, and in general all legally recognized public bodies, are considered as personal, and enjoy civil rights according to the laws and usages of public right. "3. An alien is admitted to enjoy the civil rights appertaining to citizens. "4. The child of a citizen is a citizen. 1"Lois Civiles et Criminelles" de M. Victor Foucher, vol. ix, Sardaigne. Code Civil. Atti Ufficia Leggi, Decreti, &c.," vol. v, part i, p. 292. 3 "Codice Civile del Regno d'Italia," lib. in. tit. 1. "5. If the father has lost his citizenship before the birth of the child, the latter is reputed a citizen if he is born within the state and resides therein. "Nevertheless, on becoming of age, according to the laws of the realm, he may elect to take the quality of an alien on making a declaration before the authorities of the civil state in which he resides, or, if in a foreign country, before the royal diplomatic or consular agents. "6. The child born in a foreign country, of a father who has lost his citizenship before the child's birth, is reputed as alien. "He can, however, elect to take the quality of a citizen on making a declaration as prescribed by the preceding article, and fixing his domicil in the kingdom during the year in which he makes such declaration. "Nevertheless, if he has accepted public employment in the kingdom, or has served in the army or navy, or otherwise satisfied the requirements of the conscription, without seeking exemption as an alien, he shall be considered a citizen without further process. 7. When the father is unknown, the child of a citizen-mother is a citizen. When the mother has lost her citizenship before the birth of the child the dispositions of the two preceding articles become applicable. "If even the mother is unknown, a child born in the kingdom is a citizen. "8. The child of an alien who has established his domicile within the kingdom uninterruptedly for ten years is considered a citizen; residence for commercial purposes is not sufficient to constitute domicile. "The child can, however, elect to be considered an alien on making the declaration prescribed in article 5. "When the alien has not established his domicile in the kingdom for ten years, the child is considered an alien; but the dispositions of the two first paragraphs of article 6 are applicable to the case. 9. An alien woman who marries a citizen acquires citizenship, and preserves it even in widowhood. "10. Citizenship is conferred on an alien, together with naturalization, by law or by royal decree. "Royal decree will not be effectual unless it be registered by the proper civil authority of the state in the place where the alien intends to establish or has established his domicile, and unless an oath has been taken by him, before the said official, to be faithful to the King and to observe the statutes and laws of the realm. "The registration must be effected within six months of the date of the decree, which will be otherwise annulled. "The wife and minor children of an alien who has obtained citizenship become citizens on condition of their also establishing their residence in the realm, but the children can elect to take upon them the quality of aliens on making the declaration prescribed in article 5. "11. Citizenship is lost "(1.) On renunciation by declaration before the proper civil authority of the province wherein the person resides and subsequent emigration to a foreign state. (2.) By naturalization in a foreign country. “(3.) By accepting employment from a foreign state without previous permission of the Italian government, or by entry into the military service of a foreign power. "The wife and minor children of one who has lost his citizenship become aliens, unless they have continued to reside within the realm. "Nevertheless, the wife can re-acquire citizenship in the case and by the means stated in the second paragraph of article 14, and the children according to the second and third paragraphs of article 11. 12. Loss of citizenship in the cases stated in the preceding article does not exempt from the obligations of military service, nor from the penalty inflicted on any one who bears arms against his native country. "13. The citizen who has lost his citizenship for any of the reasons stated in article 11 will recover it "(1.) By returning to the realm with the special permission of the government. "(2.) By renunciation of the foreign citizenship, employment, or military service acquired in the foreign country. (3.) By declaring before the proper civil authority of the state an intention to establish domicile within the realm, and by so bona fide establishing it within a year. "14. A woman who is a citizen, and who marries an alien, becomes alien; since by the act of marriage she acquires the citizenship of her husband. "On becoming a widow she recovers citizenship by residence within or return to the realm on declaring in either case, before the civil authority of the state, her intention to establish her domicile therein. 15. The acquisition or restoration of citizenship in the cases aforesaid does not take effect until the day after that in which the required conditions and formalities are complied with." In the articles of the code of which the foregoing is a translation, the expression "cittadinanza" is used to express citizenship; but it will be seen, on referring to article 10, a distinction is drawn between citizenship ("cittadinanza") and naturalization ("naturalità.") This is owing to the fact that Italian citizenship, properly speaking, is local: the provinces being divided, for the purposes of conscription and taxation, into districts, within one of which every Italian is bound to have his name inscribed on the district lists. This "cittadinanza," therefore, corresponds somewhat to the German "bürgerrecht," and as a local honorary privilege is conferred on distinguished persons, like our "city freedom." Thus Garibaldi was presented with the "cittadinanza" of all the Italian towns. The distinction is of no great importance, as, by article 1, "every citizen enjoys civil rights," but it may be worth mentioning. "Spaniards are— SPAIN. Extract from the Constitution of May 23, 1845. PART I.-ARTICLE I. "1. All persons born within the dominions of Spain. "2. The children of a Spanish father and mother, though born out of the dominions of Spain. "3. Aliens who have obtained a certificate of naturalization. "4. Those who, without having obtained such certificate, have acquired a domicile in any part of the mornarchy. "The quality of a Spaniard is lost by naturalization in a foreign country or by admission to the employ of a foreign government without the royal license. "The rights which aliens who may become naturalized or domiciled shall enjoy shall be determined by law." Extracts from the royal decree of the 17th of November, 1852, respecting aliens. "Aliens are PART I. CAP. I. "1. All persons born of alien fathers without the Spanish dominions. "2. The children of an alien father and Spanish mother born without the said dominions, unless they reclaim Spanish nationality. "3. Children born within Spanish territory of alien fathers, or of an alien father and Spanish mother, unless they make such a reclamation as aforesaid. "4. Children born without the Spanish dominions of fathers who have lost their Spanish nationality. "5. A Spanish woman married to an alien. "The national vessels are considered as part of the Spanish dominions without any distinction. "ARTICLE 2. Aliens who have obtained a certificate of naturalization, or become domiciled in accordance with the law, are considered Spaniards. "ARTICLE 3. All persons residing in Spain who have neither become naturalized nor settled therein are aliens domiciled or transitory. "ARTICLE 4. A legal domicile is acquired by those who have established themselves with a settled habitation or fixed residence for the space of three years, with the pos session of real property, or the exercise of some trade or profession or known mode of livelihood, in the Spanish territory, with the permission of the superior civil authority of the province. "ARTICLE 5. Transitory aliens are those who have not acquired a fixed residence in the kingdom in the manner prescribed by the preceding article.” CAP. II. "ARTICLE 8. A transitory alien who desires to become domiciled must request the necessary license from the superior civil authority of the province, with proofs of his having fulfilled the conditions required by article 4. "ARTICLES 9, 10. Registries of transitory and domiciled aliens to be kept by gov ernors of provinces and foreign consuls. "ARTICLE 12. Those whose names are not inscribed in such registries are not legally entitled to the rights of aliens." 1 Collecion Legislativa de España, tomo lvii, p. 482. CAP. III. "ARTICLE 18. Aliens may possess real property, exercise trades and professions, and share in all undertakings not expressly reserved by law to Spanish subjects. "ARTICLE 21. Both transitory and domiciled aliens are subject to the payment of all imposts and taxes on the profits arising from their lands, commerce, or profession. "ARTICLE 24. Both domiciled and transitory aliens and their children, who have not elected Spanish nationality, are exempt from military service. "But this exemption does not extend to sons whose fathers have been born within Spanish territory, even though they retain their alien nationality." PART IV.-CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN. [N. B.—The summary of this correspondence is omitted. It mainly relates to the doctrine of perpetual allegiance, which was abandoned by Congress in the act of 1868, (15 Statutes at Large, 223,) and which has also been abandoned by Great Britain and other powers with whom we have treaties of naturalization.] PART V.- CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES. PRUSSIA. The principal correspondence has been with Prussia. This correspondence is commenced in the United States Senate Documents, 1859-'60, (first session, Thirty-sixth Congress,) vol. ii, containing the papers laid before the Senate in compliance with a resolution of that House of the 2d of February, requesting information respecting the compulsory enlistment of American citizens in the army of Prussia. The first paper of importance is a letter from Mr. Wheaton (the well-known jurist, who was at that time United States minister at Berlin) to Johann Knocke, a naturalized American, born in Prussia, who claimed exemption from military service on his return to that country. “BERLIN, July 24, 1840. "SIR: I have received your application, stating that you are a native-born subject of His Majesty the King of Prussia; that you emigrated to the United States in the year 1834, being then twenty-one years old, where you became naturalized as a citizen; that you have since returned to your native country, where you have been required to perform military duty, and desiring my official interference for your relief. "In reply I have to state that it is not in my power to interfere in the manner you desire. Had you remained in the United States, or visited any other foreign country, (except Prussia,) on your lawful business, you would have been protected by the American authorities, at home and abroad, in the enjoyment of all your rights and privileges as a naturalized citizen of the United States. But, having returned to the country of your birth, your native domicile and natural character revert, (so long as you remain in the Prussian dominions,) and you are bound in all respects to obey the laws exactly as if you had never emigrated.1 The correspondence now passes to the year 1851, when Mr. Barnard was United States minister at Berlin. The first case is that of H. V. de Sandt, a Prussian by birth, who, after declaring his intention to become a United States citizen, had returned to Prussia, and whom the authorities at Cleves had ordered to leave that country. 1 United States Senate Documents, 1859-'60, vol. ii, p. 6. In reply to a representation from Mr. Barnard, M. le Coq explained on behalf of the Prussian Government that Sandt had left with the idea of evading military service; that the proofs of his naturalization in the United States were incomplete, and that the order of the Cleves authorities would not be revoked.1 Upon this Mr. Barnard wrote to Sandt, (June 16, 1851.)2 "When you ceased to be a citizen of Prussia by your permit of emigration, and became a resident in the United States, the laws and Government of that country became your protection so long as that residence continued. When, however, you quitted your residence there before perfecting your naturalization and again took up your abode in Prussia for your own purposes, your position was a peculiar one, and required from you a peculiar and very discreet line of conduct. It was impossible for the American legation here to claim you as an American citizen.” Several other cases occurred in 1851-52, which it seems unnecessary to give a detailed account of.3 Mr. Brandt arrested at Coblenz on the ground of being an emigration agent. Mr. Dale, an American, imprisoned at Aix-la-Chapelle for having an informal passport:4 Mr. Behne summoned to military service.5 Dr. Gutowski, a Pole, of Posen, naturalized in the United States, who had returned to Prussia.6 Mr. Barnard informed Dr. Gutowski (August 3, 1852) that "having voluntarily returned to the country of your birth, where you have purchased a farm and taken up your residence, the Prussian government has a right to regard you as its subject, and so treat you in all respects." Mr. B. Meyer, a native of Padeborn, fined 50 dollars on returning to Prussia, for having evaded military service by emigrating without a license. It appears from a dispatch from Mr. Barnard to Mr. Webster that the Prussian government was always at this time on the lookout for the German democratic propaganda and its agents, and that naturalized German citizens gave rise to suspicion by the ostentatious manner in which they flaunted their Americanism in the face of the authorities, Mr. Born, one of the most respectable of these persons, having demanded 20,000 rix-dollars for a detention of six or eight hours. On the 29th of October, 1852, Mr. Bernard called the attention of Baron Mantueffel to the case of John Joseph Kracke, who had been forced into the army for three years' service.8 On the 14th of January, 1853, Mr. Everett furnished Mr. Barnard with instructions, of which the following is an extract:9 "The doctrine of inalienable allegiance is, no doubt, attended with great practical difficulties. It has been affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States, and by more than one of the State courts; but the naturalization laws of the United States certainly assume that a person can, by his own acts, divest himself of the allegiance under which he was born and contract a new allegiance to a foreign power. But, until this new allegiance is contracted, he must be considered as bound by his allegiance to the government under which he was born, and subject to its laws; and this undoubted principle seems to have its direct application in the present cases. If. then, a Prussian subject, born and living under this state of the law, (of military service,) chooses to emigrate to a foreign country without obtaining the certificate' which alone can discharge him from the obligation of military service, he does so at his own risk. For these reasons, and without entering into any discussion of the question of perpetual allegiance, the President is of opinion that if a subject of Prussia, lying under a legal obligation in that country to perform a certain amount of military duty, leaves his native land, and without performing that duty or obtaining the prescribed 'certificate of emigration,' comes to the United States and is naturalized, and afterwards, for any purposes whatever, goes back to Prussia, it is not competent for the United States to protect him from the operation of the Prussian law." * * The doctrine thus laid down by Mr. Everett was communicated by Mr. Barnard to Baron Manteuffel on the 15th of February, 1853:10 "The Government of the United States considers that the laws of Prussia, which require a certain amount of military service of its subjects, and which prescribe the conditions in reference to this military service on which emigration is permitted, are a matter of domestic policy, in which no foreign government has a right to interfere. It considers also that, if a Prussian subject, born and living under this state of the law. emigrates to a foreign country without a compliance with those conditions, which alone can discharge him from the obligation of military service, he does so at his own personal risk. Going abroad under the burden of a duty still due to his native sovereign, his unauthorized emigration is in the nature of an escape from that duty and United States Senate Documents, 1859-60," vol. ii. p. 9. Ibid., p. 13. 3 Ibid., p. 14. Ibid p 1 Ibid., p. 23. Ibid., p. 43. Ibid., p. 41. Ibid., p. 44. 9 Ibid., p. 53. 10 Ibid., p. 57. |