Toothless European Citizenship / Šimon Uradnik

3.1.1 General Scholarship on Nationality Law Several approaches how to perceive the origin and acquisition of nationality may be encountered; the author nevertheless relies in his study on the systematics and knowledge developed in research by A. ManthaHollands and J. Dzankic, 172 and H. van Eijken and P. Phoa; 173 nonetheless, also on his own input. The entire matter at issue can be divided into two pathways with subsequent specific laws whereby an individual acquires nationality. First, the acquisition ex lege 174 thereby nationality is acquired predominantly, but not only, at and by birth — an individual needs not to act in any way since, for instance, the sole fact of birth is the manner how nationality is acquired. Second, the acquisition ex actu , 175 whereby an individual acquires nationality by mutual acting with an authority under the qualified procedure. Under each category of acquisition, particular iura may be subordinated, the primal objective of which is to secure the continuity of link between a state and its citizens throughout generations. 176 3.1.1.1 Acquisition ex lege The acquisition ex lege , hence, an acquisition by birth consists of two principal rules, namely, ius sanguinis — the right of blood, and ius soli — the right of soil. The principle of ius sanguinis — acquiring nationality after parents — may be traced backwards up to the Greco-Roman 172 Ashley Mantha-Hollands and Jelena Dzankic, ‘Ties that bind and unbind: charting the boundaries of European Union citizenship’ (2022) 49/9 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 2091 accessed 3 rd May 2023. 173 Hanneke van Eijken and Pauline Phoa, ‘Chapter 5: Nationality and EU citizenship: strong tether or slipping anchor?’ in Civil Rights and EU Citizenship (Edward Elgar Publishing 2018). 174 H. van Eijken and P. Phoa label this means as ‘ acquisition de iure ’; to that effect, see ibid 104. 175 The author considers the term of the acquisition ex actu — both meaning from an individual legal act, such as a decision, and from acting of an individual — more precise than the broadly used term of the acquisition by naturalisation, as it implies the very needed act both of an individual and of the state; moreover, it also includes the acquisition of nationality by the declaration of option, which according to the doctrine does not fall under the naturalisation. For this purpose, see, exempli gratia , Thomas Huddleston, ‘Naturalisation in context: how nationality laws and procedures shape immigrants’ interest and ability to acquire nationality in six European countries’ (2020) 8/18 Comparative Migration Studies accessed 3 rd May 2023. 176 Maarten Peter Vink and Rainer Bauböck, ‘Citizenship configurations: Analysing the multiple purposes of citizenship regimes in Europe’ (2013) 2013/11 Comparative European Politics 622 accessed 3 rd May 2023.

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