1948년 영국 국적법의 두 부산물: 시민권으로서의 선거권 확립과 비(非)브리튼(Briton) 선거권 증대

The Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946 which was a reflection of nationalism arising among the old Dominions posed a serious threat to the basis of the ‘common code’ which has unified the British Commonwealth of Nations and the British Empire. The British Labour government and Parliament passed the British Nationality Act of 1948 which they hoped, by maintaining a uniform definition of British subjecthood, would both intensify the unity among the Commonwealth nations and the British Colonies and affirm Britain’s place as their head, thereby maintaining Britain’s international position in the postwar era. As a result, people of the Commonwealth and the Colonies, by means of their status as citizens stemming from their respective community membership, could now enjoy equal franchise and other citizenship rights and maintain their existing British subjecthood and British nationality. The Nationality Act established for the first time in British history franchise and other citizenship rights as republican legal rights. However, ironically, the political elites in the government and Parliament, being greatly engrossed in the task of making the Act help maintain the bonds among the Commonwealth nations, used the terms of ‘citizen’ and ‘citizenship’ without providing their exact definitions. Meanwhile, for the purpose of strengthening the ties between Britain and its Colonies, the political elites guaranteed the same franchise and other citizenship rights as Britons enjoyed in the United Kingdom to its non-Briton colored British subjects if they entered the United Kingdom. Contrary to their expectation, however, such colored migration to the United Kingdom rapidly and greatly increased since the late 1940s due to the unexpected changes in postwar economic conditions, chiefly the labor shortage brought about by the achievement of full employment in the United Kingdom and the availability of cheap international transportation.