Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1873
[Untitled]
My Lord: With reference to your lordship’s circular dispatch of the 11th ultimo, I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of a report, drawn up by the lawyer employed by this legation, on the state of the Greek law with regard to the nationality of children born of alien parents within the Greek dominions.
I have, &c.,
The Lord Stanley, M. P., &c.
What is the condition of children born on Greek soil of foreign parents?
As a general rule, the circumstance of a child’s having been born on Greek soil does not cause him to be considered as a Greek; his origin alone does so. In order, therefore, to settle the question whether a child is a Greek or not, a single thing is to be considered—of whom was he born? If the child of a Greek, he is a Greek himself, in whatever country he was born. If his parents are foreigners he is a foreigner like them, even if he was born in Greece. (Article 14, No. 1, of the civil code.)
It must, however, be remarked that the circumstance of a child’s having been born on Greek soil produces a double effect in his favor.
- 1.
- It enables him to acquire Greek citizenship more
readily than an ordinary foreigner. He has, in fact, but
to fulfill three conditions:
- (a.) To declare, while residing in Greece, that it is his intention to fix his domicile there, and to so establish it within one year from the date of such declaration;
- (b.) To make this declaration within one year from the date of his majority; and
- (c.) To take the oath of allegiance as a Greek subject before the competent monarch. (Articles 19 and 17 of the civil code.)
- 2.
- It causes it to be taken for granted, when his father and mother are unknown, that he is the child of Greek parents, and that he is consequently a Greek himself. (Article 114, No. 3 of the civil code.)
The principle that the origin of the child determines his nationality, independently of the place of his birth, presents no difficulty when his father and mother are both foreigners; the child is a Greek in the first case, a foreigner in the second. What, however, is to be decided upon if the one is a Greek and the other a foreigner? Shall the child follow tbe condition of his father or that of his mother?
If the child was born in lawful wedlock this question will rarely arise, for as the wife follows the conditions of her husband, (articles 21 and 25 of the civil code,) both husband and wife will, in most cases, be both Greeks or both foreigners. Still, as the principle enunciated by these articles must be understood in this restricted sense, that the woman acquires the condition which her husband has at the time of her marriage, the contrary hypothesis may arise. Then will the child’s condition be that of his father or that of his mother, the father being the head of the family? Article 14, No. 1, decides that the nationality of the child will be that of the father.
As to a child born of a foreign mother and a native Greek father, if he is legally [Page 1429] recognized by bis father alone, or by bis father and his mother, his condition will be that of his father. (Article 14, No. 5, of the civil code.) On the other hand, it must be decided that if he has been recognized by his mother only, he is, like her, a foreigner.
He who is born of a Greek mother and a foreign father is considered a Greek subject if he has not been recognized by the latter. (Article 14, No. 2, of the civil code.) If he has been recognized by him, in order to obtain Greek nationality he must comply with the formalities already mentioned in article 17 of the civil code. (Article 19 of the same code.)
It remains to examine the question whether the child acquires the condition which his father or his mother had at the time of his conception or of his birth. The question is an interesting one, for the person whose condition the child is to follow may, in the interval between his conception and his birth, have ceased to be a Greek by naturalization abroad; or, having been a foreigner, she may have become a Greek by naturalization in Greece.
Article 11 of the civil code proclaims the Roman maxim, Infans conceptus pro nato kabetur, quoties de ejus commodis agitur; and since, in the eyes of the Greek law, it is better for the child to be born a Greek than a foreigner, we will say that it is sufficient, in order that a child may be born a Greek, for the person whose condition he is to follow to have been a Greek, either at the moment of the conception or at the moment of his birth, or even in the interval between these two dates.
Children born between the two or three years required for the naturalization of a foreigner (according as he is or is not of Greek origin) become Greeks by the naturalization of their father. (Article 18 of the civil code.) As to children born to him before the declaration required for naturalization, they will remain foreigners, as will also his wife; but if at the time of his naturalization they were minors, they may acquire Greek nationality by manifesting their desire to do so, within the year following the date of their attaining their majority, before the communal magistrate of the place where they may desire to fix their domicile, by settling in Greece, and by taking the oath of allegiance as Greek subjects before the competent monarch. (Article 17 of the civil code.)
Article 20 of the same code decides that a child born of parents who had lost their Greek citizenship may always acquire such citizenship by complying with the formalities prescribed in article 17. As the civil code of Greece, in conferring citizenship, considers only the origin, there is no distinction to be made if the child of a former Greek was born abroad or in Greece; if those whose condition he follows are foreigners he is necessarily born a foreigner like them, whatever may be the place of his birth. It must be remarked, however, that the child born of an ex-Greek is treated more favorably than a child born in Greece of an ordinary foreigner; the one may always, that is to say, at any age, provided he be of age, claim Greek citizenship; he can do so, on the contrary, only within the year following the date of the attainment of his majority.
This difTerence is readily explained. The child born of an ex-Greek being a Greek by nature, the law does not doubt his attachment to Greece; at whatever time he may present himself it eagerly accepts him, convinced that the feeling which causes him to act can be but love for his natural country. The case is not the same with the child of a foreigner born in Greece; he is not at all a Greek. It may be that he feels a fondness for Greece since he was born there, but if he is too tardy in making known his desire to bear the title of a Greek, the law, being warned by his indifference, presumes, when he presents himself later, that he comes only for his own personal interest, and therefore treats him like an ordinary foreigner.
Advocate, Doctor of Laws.