Reply #5: British citizenship is largely a legal status

[fedsron2us]

set out in the British Nationality Act of 1981. Because the UK has no formal written constitution, the rights and duties of the populace are governed by a huge body of statute and common law which is constantly being modified by Parliament and interpreted by the courts. Although the populace of Britain may theoretically still be subjects of the monarchy, in practice there are limits to the powers of the crown even when exercised by the elected government. Most of these restrictions arose from Britain's signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1972 which established the superiority of European Law and set limits on the sovereignty of the British Parliament. It gave the British Courts the power to review Acts of Parliament and in the light of EU legislation, to override Statute Law when it failed to comply with European law. As a result EU legislation and judgments from the European Court of Justice automatically become part of the UK constitution. The UK has also signed the European Convention on Human Rights into its law under the Human Rights Act of 1998. This piece of law is already being used by the courts to restrain the powers of the executive.

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/european.htm
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/80042--d.htm

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