The British Nationality Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the status of "Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies" (CUKC) as the national citizenship of the United Kingdom and its colonies.
The Act, which came into effect on 1 January 1949, was passed in consequence of the 1947 Commonwealth conference, which had agreed that each of the Commonwealth member states would legislate for its own citizenship, distinct from the shared status of "Commonwealth citizen" (formerly known as "British subject"). Similar legislation was also passed in most of the other Commonwealth countries.
The Act formed the basis of the United Kingdom's nationality law until the British Nationality Act 1981 came into force in 1983. However, the concept of a common Commonwealth citizenship had already been progressively eroded from 1962 onwards by British legislation targeted against non-White Commonwealth immigrants.
Read more about British Nationality Act 1948: Background To The Act, Provisions of The Act, Reform of The Act, and Subsequent Acts, The Act Today
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