CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ CITIZENSHIP IN THE FIRST CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC … have the nationality of a foreign country forced upon him after birth without his consent, express or implied”. 7 Similarly, Germany stated in its reply that, “for example, a State has no power, by means of a law or an administrative act to confer its nationality on all the inhabitants of another State or on all foreigners entering its territory”. 8 It was also stated in the reply that “if the State confers its nationality on the subjects of other States without their request, when the persons in question are not attached to it by any particular bond, as for instance, origin, domicile or birth, the State concerned will not be bound to recognize such naturalization”. 9 The obligation of a foreign state not to recognize such a decision to grant nationality is an expression of the principle of sovereign equality of states, which implies legal equality and the duty to respect the personality of other states. A state, therefore, must not interfere with the same right of another state, as a result of national sovereignty, when modifying nationality. Therefore, a state must not intervene in the sovereignty of another state, for example, by declaring that all the persons located in the territory of the other state become, at a certain date, its citizens. This was the case during World War 2, when Germany passed the Reich Act of 1943 stipulating that persons of German nationality living before 1941 in the territory of the USSR are German citizens. An often-discussed rule is whether a binding rule of international law is an aspect of a genuine link between a particular state and, for example, a natural or legal person or a particular object. The question is whether such a link exists and what the consequences, if any, will be in the absence of such a bond. 2. State nationality (citizenship) of natural persons, the issue of genuine link A classic case referred to in connection with the nationality of natural persons is the case of Nottebohm 10 (Liechtenstein vs. Guatemala). The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Nottebohm in 1955. The Court concluded that the conditions for granting nationality fall exclusively within the national jurisdiction of any State which, by its legislation, has rules related to the acquisition of citizenship, and rules on how to confer that nationality by naturalization. Citizenship is thereby granted by its own organs in accordance with national legislation. 11 Generally, the two most important principles on which nationality is based in different countries are the birth of parents who are nationals of that state, or at least one of them ( ius sanguinis principle ), the second principle is birth in the national territory ( ius soli principle ). The principle ius sanguinis is applied mainly in continental European countries, such as France, Germany, and Switzerland, where a child acquires the nationality of the father, 12 although many national laws in cases of illegitimate children are based on the fact that the child is given the mother’s nationality. The Czech Republic also uses the principle of ius 7 BISHOP, W. W.: International Law. Cases and Materials. Second edition. Boston, Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1962, s. 411. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Czech excerpt of the case in: ŠTURMA, P. et al. Casebook. Selection of Cases under Public International Law, 3rd edition. Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Law, 2015, p. 47 and following. 11 Ibid., p. 49. 12 SHAW, M. N.: International Law. 8th. edition . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017, p. 495.

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