— Part
—
.
Rights and Duties of Aliens.
II.
309
Sect. i. franchise and from voting at any county council or parish council Alien election or parish meeting. Friends, AHens who have been domiciled in England and Wales for ten years, if in other respects duly qualified, are qualified and liable juries civil to serve on juries or inquests (/). An alien is triable criminally in the same manner as if he were Be medietate a natural-born subject (//), though previously to 1870 he was entitled by statute (/<), when indicted for a felony or misdemeanour, to be tried by a my de medietate Ungues, which was constituted of equal numbers of British and alien jurors, his right to such a jury, in the case of treason, having been taken away from him in 1554 (^).
[Sub-Sect.
2.
— Under
the Naturalization Act,
1870.
680. Eeal and personal property of every description may be taken, acquired, held, and disposed of by an alien in the same manner in all respects as by a natural-born British subject, and a title to real and personal property of every description may be derived through, from, or in succession to an alien in the same manner in all respects as through, from, or in succession to a natural-born British subject(j); but no right is conferred on aliens to hold real property situate out of the United Kingdom {k), nor is any other right or privilege as a British subject besides those expressly given {I). The Act does not affect any estate or interest in real or personal property to which any person (m) has or may become entitled, either mediately or immediately, in possession or expectancy, in pursuance of any disposition made before the passing of the Act, or in pursuance of any devolution of law^ on the death of any person dying before it was passed (??). Sub-Sect.
Military Service.
3.
681. The enlistment of aliens in the British army is regulated (o) to the effect that an alien may, with the consent of the Crown signified through a Secretary of State, enlist but the number of aliens serving in His Majesty's regular forces together at any one time in any corps of the regular forces must not exceed the proportion of one alien to every fifty British subjects ; and an alien so enlisted is not capable of holding any higher rank than that of a warrant officer or non-commissioned officer (p) Notwithstanding the above provisions any negro or person of colour, although an alien, may voluntarily enlist, and when so
by statutory provisions
& 34 Yict. c. 77), s. 8. Naturalization Act, 1870 (33 Vict. c. 14), s. 5. (1354) 28 Edw. 3, c. 13, s. 2, and (1429) 8 Hen. 6, c. 29 see R. Juries Act, 1825 (6 Geo. 4, c. 50), s. 47. (1849), 1 Den. 0. C. 467 (/) Juries Act, 1870 (33 (y) [h)
v.
Maiming
(0
(1554) 1
&
2 Phil.
(V) Naturalization (k) Ibid., s. 2 (1).
& Mary,
c.
10.
Act, 1870 (33 Yict.
c.
14), s. 2.
Ibid., s. 2 (2); Bloxam v. Favre (1884), 9 P. D. 130. {m) Sharp v. St. Sauveur (1871), 7 Ch. App. 343. Person is meant to apply generally, and it refers to all parties, whether they be aliens or otherwise. {n) Sharp v. St. Sauveur, supra; Naturalization Act, 1870 (33 Yict. c. 14), s. 2 (3). The Act is not retrospective, (o) Army Act, 1881 (44 & 45 Yict. c. 58). {p) Ibid., s. 95 (1). (/)
