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The distinction between the meaning of the terms citizenship and nationality is not always clear in the English language and differs by country. Generally, nationality refers to a person's legal belonging to a sovereign state and is the common term used in international treaties when addressing members of a country, while citizenship usually means the set of rights and duties a person has in ...
British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, [22] are the citizens of the United Kingdom, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies. [23] [24] [25] British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, which can be acquired, for instance, by descent from British nationals.
There is much debate about the meaning of 'nationality'. Some claim that it has only the narrow meaning of being a citizen of a sovereign state. However, the Oxford Dictionary's Lexico dictionary definition states "[t]he status of belonging to a particular nation". This raises the question of whether England, Scotland, Wales and Northern ...
Nationality is sometimes used simply as an alternative word for ethnicity or national origin, just as some people assume that citizenship and nationality are identical. [37] In some countries, the cognate word for nationality in local language may be understood as a synonym of ethnicity or as an identifier of cultural and family-based self ...
In the Canada 2016 Census, 'English' was the most common ethnic origin (ethnic origin refers to the ethnic or cultural group(s) to which the respondent's ancestors belong [138]) recorded by respondents; 6,320,085 people or 18.3% of the population self-identified themselves as wholly or partly English.
Commonwealth citizenship was created out of a gradual transition from an earlier form of British nationality as the British Empire began dissolving. Before 1949, all citizens of the Empire were British subjects and owed allegiance to the Crown. [1]
The terms Briton and British, similarly derived, refer to some or all of its inhabitants and, to varying extents, those of the smaller islands in the vicinity. "British Isles" is the only ancient name for these islands to survive in general usage.
British nationality law has its origins in medieval England.There has always been a distinction in English law between the subjects of the monarch and aliens: the monarch's subjects owed him allegiance, and included those born in his dominions (natural-born subjects) and those who later gave him their allegiance (naturalised subjects or denizens).