Calvin's Case
Calvin's Case | |
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Sir Edward Coke, Sir Lawrence Tanfield, Sir Thomas Foster, Sir Christopher Yelverton, Sir Thomas Walmsley , | |
Keywords | |
Citizenship |
Calvin's Case (1608), 77 ER 377, (1608) Co Rep 1a, also known as the Case of the Postnati,[1] was a 1608 English legal decision establishing that a child born in Scotland, after the Union of the Crowns under King James VI and I in 1603, was considered under the common law to be an English subject and entitled to the benefits of English law. Calvin's Case was eventually adopted by courts in the United States, and the case played an important role in shaping the American rule of birthright citizenship via jus soli ("law of the soil", or citizenship by virtue of birth within the territory of a sovereign state).[2][3]
Facts
Under the
As it happened, the child "Robert Calvin" was actually named Robert Colville; he was the son of Robert Colville, Master of Culross, and grandson of the courtier James Colville, 1st Lord Colville of Culross.
Judgment
The
Although not directly relevant to the case,
Significance
Postnati and antenati
The decision in Calvin's Case hinged on Calvin's status as one of the postnati—subjects born into the allegiance of the Scottish king James after he had become the
Calvin's Case did not extend English subject status to the antenati (Scots born prior to 1603). They remained
Later influence
Calvin's Case contributed to the concept of the Rights of Englishmen.[16][17][18] Some scholars believed that the case did not fit America's situation, and thus reasoned that the 18th century colonists could "claim all the rights and protections of English citizenship".[19] In fact, one scholar asserts that the legal apologists for the American Revolution claimed they had "improved on the rights of Englishmen" by creating additional, purely American rights.[19]
Owing to its inclusion in the standard legal treatises of the nineteenth century (compiled by
See also
- United Kingdom immigration law
- Jus sanguinis, an alternative theory of citizenship based on inheriting citizenship from a parent or parents
- Stare decisis, a legal principle whereby new decisions should be consistent with established precedents
Notes
- ^ Calvin's Case 7 Co. Rep. 1a, 77 ER 377, reprinted in The Reports of Sir Edward Coke, In Thirteen Parts, A New Edition, vol. 4, p. 1 (London, Joseph Butterworth and Son 1826).
- ^ Price, Polly J. (1997). "Natural Law and Birthright Citizenship in Calvin's Case (1608)". Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities. 9: 74.
[Edward] Coke's report of Calvin's Case was one of the most important English common-law decisions adopted by courts in the early history of the United States. Rules of citizenship derived from Calvin's Case became the basis of the American common-law rule of birthright citizenship....
- ISBN 978-0-521-69866-5.
Nearly all scholarship on the origins of American citizenship acknowledges the singular importance of Calvin's Case in shaping the legal and philosophical principles upon which American citizenship was founded.
- ^ Price (1997), pp. 81–82.
- ^ Sir Edward Coke, The Selected Writings and Speeches of Sir Edward Coke, ed. Steve Sheppard (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2003). Vol. 1. 31 March 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-5504-7. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/67449. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1899). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 59. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ OL 2058188M. 0195050223.
- ^ Price (1997), p. 101–102.
- ^ Price (1997), p. 117.
- ^ Price (1997), p. 96.
- ^ Price (1997), p. 97.
- ^ Price (1997), pp. 98–99.
- ^ Price (1997), p. 119.
- ^ Price, Polly J. (1997). "Natural Law and Birthright Citizenship in Calvin's Case (1608)". Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities. 9: 73.
- ^ a b Hulsebosch, Daniel J. (2003). "The Ancient Constitution and the Expanding Empire: Sir Edward Coke's British Jurisprudence". Law and History Review 21.3: para. 28–33 – via History Cooperative. Archived 29 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ Arthur J. Slavin (1983). "Craw v. Ramsey: New Light on an Old Debate". In Stephen Bartow Baxter, ed., England's Rise to Greatness, 1660–1763 (University of California Press), pp. 31–32 – via Google Books. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ ISBN 0-8018-7912-4, p. 102, n. 33 – via Google Books. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- ^ Price (1997), p. 138–139.
References
- Harvey Wheeler, Francis Bacon's Case of the Post-Nati:(1608); Foundations of Anglo-American Constitutionalism; An Application of Critical Constitutional Theory, Ward, 1998