from, or in succession to a natural-born British subject. An alien who has resided in the United Kingdom for a term of not less than five years, or has been in the service of the Crown for a term of not less than five years, and intends, when naturalized, either to reside in the United Kingdom or to serve under the Crown, may apply to one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State for a certificate of naturalization; and, if granted, the certificate will confer on such alien all political and other rights, powers, and privileges, and render him subject to all obligations which a natural-born British subject is entitled or subject to in the United Kingdom, with this qualification—that he shall not, when within the limits of the foreign State of which he was a subject previously to obtaining his certificate of naturalization, be deemed to be a British subject, unless he has ceased to be a subject of that State in pursuance of the laws thereof, or in pursuance of a Treaty to that effect (33 Vict. c. 14; 35 and 36 Vict. c. 39). In France, by the Civil Code, a foreigner enjoys the same civil rights as are conceded to a French citizen under the Treaty in force in the country to which the foreigners belong. But the Law of June 29, 1867, provides that a foreigner who, after having completed the twenty-fifth year of his age, has obtained the authority to establish his domicile in France, and has resided three years in the country, may be allowed to enjoy all the rights of French citizens, in virtue of a Decree of the Chief of the State

on the report of the Minister of Justice. The delay of three years may be reduced to one when the party soliciting the naturalization has rendered signal service to the country, or has introduced an industry or useful invention, or has formed a great establishment of commerce or agriculture.

62. The practice of escheatage, under which foreigners were excluded from all right of inheritance in the State, either from a native born or an alien, and the jus albinagii or droit d'aubaine, by which all the property of a deceased foreigner, movable and immovable alike, was confiscated to the use of the State, to the exclusion of his heirs, are abolished by the Municipal Law of all liberal States and by special Treaties to that effect.

63. The subject, whether native-born or alien, owes to the State allegiance, obedience, and cooperation.

64. The State has no right to compel a foreign subject, not naturalized, to render civil or military service.

65. Nor has the State the right to punish a foreigner for an offence committed in a foreign land. (See Extradition.)

66. The State is not responsible to foreign States for the acts of, or the offences committed by, its subjects at home or abroad, provided it has taken every legal means for repressing and punishing such offenders, and has taken measures, as far as it is in its power, to prevent their recur

rence.

CHAPTER IV.

RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE STATE.

67. THE State has a right to do whatever is calculated to secure its own preservation and independence.

68. The State has a right to acquire new countries or to enlarge its own possessions by discovery, colonization, or otherwise.

"Le prémier de tous les droits absolus ou permanents, celui qui soit de base fondamentale à la plus part des autres et au plus grand nombre des droits occasionels, est le droit de conservation de soi-même" (Ortolan, lib. i. c. 3, p. 55). "Un autre droit absolu ou permanent de tout état souverain, c'est d'être indépendant; c'est à dire de n'avoir à reconnaître, dans aucun de ces actes, l'autorité supérieure d'aucun autre état, isolé ou réuni à d'autres, de ne pas être tenu d'obéir aux injonctions impérative des autres puissances" (Ortolan, lib. i. c. 3, p. 56).

69. The State has a right to cede or alienate any portion of its territory within the limits of, and subject to, the safeguards imposed by its Constitution in that behalf.

70. Likewise the State may acquire or sell property by the same means and in the same manner as private individuals, that is, by purchase, cession, exchange, inheritance, or prescription.

71. The State has a right to increase its commerce, navigation, and fisheries; to work its mines and forests; to use freely its own lakes, rivers, and canals; to strike its own coinage, and to issue any kind of paper securities.

72. The right of trading with foreign countries is not a perfect right, nevertheless the refusal of a State to trade with any country is against comity.

73. The State has a right to augment its naval and military forces, or to construct fortifications within the limits necessary for purposes of defence, and has no right to oppose a similar exercise of right on the part of any other State.

When the excessive armaments of a State become