Trump v. Barbara · ¶21

In all other respects, however, the sovereign’s power— and his claim to the people’s allegiance—was complete. A foreign mother could enter the British Isles, give birth, and leave with her child the very next day, and that child would remain a British subject. Why? Because the child owed an implied allegiance to the sovereign who protected him at his birth—no matter how “momentary and uncertain” his presence in the King’s realms.Calvin’s Case, 7 Co. Rep., at 6a, 77 Eng. Rep., at 384; see also Doe, 4 T. R., at 308, 100 Eng. Rep., at 1035. The same rule applied to children born in the realm of parents subject to expulsion. For example, children of “gypsies” (today, called Romani or Roma people) born in the realm were natural-born subjects, notwithstanding that British law at the time “directed” the Roma people “to avoid the realm” under “pain of imprisonment” or even death. 4 Blackstone…

slip opinion, revised 7/01/26
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