Swaziland Independence Act 1968
| Year | 1968 |
Swaziland IndependenceAct 1968
1968 CHAPTER 56
An Act to make provision for, and in connection with, the attainment by Swaziland of fully responsible status within the Commonwealth.
[26th July 1968]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Fully responsible status of Swaziland.
1. On 6th September 1968 (in this Act referred to as ‘the appointed day’) Swaziland shall cease to be a protected state; and on and after that day Her Majesty shall have no jurisdiction over Swaziland.
2 Operation of existing law.
(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Act, on and after the appointed day all law which, whether being a rule of law or a provision of an Act of Parliament or of any other enactment or instrument whatsoever, is in force on that day or has been passed or made before that day and comes into force thereafter, shall, unless and until provision to the contrary is made by Parliament or some other authority having power in that behalf, have the same operation in relation to Swaziland, and persons and things belonging to or connected with Swaziland, as it would have apart from this subsection if there had been no change in the status of Swaziland on the appointed day.
(2) Part I of the Schedule to this Act (which relates to enactments applicable to Commonwealth countries having fully responsible status) and Part II of that Schedule (which relates to enactments excepted from the operation of the preceding subsection) shall have effect on and after the appointed day in relation to the enactments therein mentioned; but that Schedule shall not extend to Swaziland as part of its law.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section applies to law of, or of any part of, the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and, in relation only to any enactment of the Parliament of the United Kingdom or any Order in Council made by virtue of any such enactment whereby any such enactment applies in relation to Swaziland, to law of any other country or territory to which that enactment or Order extends.
3 Consequential modifications of British Nationality Acts.
(1) The British Nationality Acts 1948 to 1965 shall have effect on and after the appointed day as if—
(a ) in section 1(3) of the British Nationality Act 1948 (Commonwealth countries having separate citizenship) there were added at the end the words ‘and Swaziland’, and
(b ) in Article 9(1) of the British Protectorates, Protected States and Protected Persons Order 1965 , as amended by the British Protectorates, Protected States and Protected Persons (Amendment) Order 1967 , the words ‘and to Swaziland’, and in Schedule 3 to the said Order of 1965, as so amended, the entry relating to Swaziland, were omitted.
(2) Except as provided by section 4 of this Act, any person who immediately before the appointed day is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies shall on that day cease to be such a citizen if on that day he is a citizen of Swaziland.
(3) Section 6(2) of the British Nationality Act 1948 (registration as citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies of women who have been married to such citizens) shall not apply to a woman by virtue of her marriage to a person who on the appointed day ceases to be such a citizen under subsection (2) of this section, or who would have done so if living on the appointed day.
(4) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall affect the meaning of ‘protected state’ in any law or instrument passed or made before the passing of this Act, not being a law or instrument contained in or made under any of the British Nationality Acts 1948 to 1965.
(5) In accordance with section 3(3) of the West Indies Act 1967 , it is hereby declared that this and the next following section extend to all associated states.
4 Retention of citizenship of United Kingdom and Colonies by certain citizens of Swaziland.
(1) Subject to subsection (5) of this section, a person shall not cease to be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies under section 3(2) of this Act if he, his father or his father's father—
(a ) was born in the United Kingdom or in a colony or an associated state; or
(b ) is or was a person naturalised in the United Kingdom and Colonies; or
(c ) was registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies: or
(d ) became a British subject by reason of the annexation of any territory included in a colony.
(2) A person shall not cease to be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies under the said section 3(2) if either—
(a ) he was born in a protectorate or protected state, or
(b ) his father or his father's father was so born and is or at any time was a British subject.
(3) A woman who is the wife of a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies shall not cease to be such a citizen under the said section 3(2) unless her husband does so.
(4) Subject to subsection (5) of this section, the reference in subsection (1)(b ) of this section to a person naturalised in the United Kingdom and Colonies shall include a person who would, if living immediately before the commencement of the British Nationality Act 1948 , have become a person naturalised in the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of section 32(6) of that Act (persons given local naturalisation in a colony or protectorate before the commencement of that Act).
(5) In this section—
(a ) references to a colony shall be construed as not including any territory which, on the appointed day, is not a colony for the purposes of the British Nationality Act 1948 as that Act has effect on that day, and
(b ) references to a protectorate or protected state shall be construed as not including any territory which, on the appointed day, is not a protectorate or a protected state (as the case may be) for the purposes of that Act as it has effect on that day, and accordingly do not include Swaziland;
and subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to a person by virtue of any certificate of naturalisation granted or registration effected by the Governor or Government of a territory which by virtue of this subsection is excluded from...
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