NOTES 163 doubt can ever be raised on a point which may be vital to the United States." ^^ Sound authority is cited for the proposition, and more might be adduced.^^ Applying this modification of the Act of 1868 to a supposititious case will indicate the kind of complication which may result from naturaliza- tion in war time. During 191 5 a German of military age, who has re- sided in the United States for more than five years but who has no dis- charge from his nationality of birth, applies for and receives his final naturalization papers. It may be assumed that he gets them as a matter of course, for there appears to be nothing questionable about the man and nothing unusual about the case. But if the judge had examined the new German Imperial and State Law of Nationality ^"^ he would have found that while a discharge from nationahty "may not be refused in time of peace" except for certain specified reasons, "In time of war and danger of war the right is reserved to the Emperor to issue special regulations." Looking further, he would have discovered that on Au- gust 3, 1914, the Emperor did issue a special regulation to the effect that persons under obligation to serve in the army were not to be dis- charged from either State or direct Imperial allegiance until further notice.^* This puts our hypothetical naturalized citizen in an uncomfortable position. To take the least likely and perhaps the least hvirtful possibility first, an active United States attorney may endeavor to have his certifi- cate canceled.^* The attorney would argue that the Act of 1907 read into our corpus juris and specifically into the naturalization act of the preceding year the "principle of public law" which forbids the desertion of one's country flagrante bello and that the German appUcant obtained his papers f raiidulently or illegally. If the attorney felt unkindly toward the respondent, he would point out to the court how unlikely it is that a German would disregard the law of his Fatherland; and he would suggest that possibly this German saved his skin by taking advantage of that wicked provision of the Delbriick Law which enabled him to retain his original nationality.^" Numerous defenses to such a piroceeding n^ay " H. R., Doc. 326, 59th Cong., 2d Session, 28. The opinions of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of State referred to therein may be found in 2 Foreign Relations (1873), 1187 and 1204. " See note 13; also Halleck on International Law (1908), § 29, 462.
- ^ This law is commonly known as the Delbriick Law. " Vor der Erteilung der
Genehmigungist der d. Konsul zu horen," Reichs-Gesetzblatt (1913), 583, 589, quoted In re Haas, 242 Fed. 739 (191 7). The translation quoted is that presented in 1914 to both Houses of Parliament. 1* Reichs-Gesetzblatt (1914), 323. To avoid any chance of faulty translation, the original text is quoted: " Wehrpflichtige sind bis aufweiieres nicht aus der Slaatsange- korigkeit oder unmittelbaren Reichsangehorigkeit zu entlassen." '• In accordance with § 15 of the Naturalization Act of Jime 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 601.
- ° Paragraph second of § 25: "A person does not lose his nationality if, before ac-
quiring a foreign nationality, he has appUed for, and received, the written permission of the competent authorities of his home state to retain his nationality. Before the grant of such permission, the German consid is to be consulted." (Die Staatsange- horigkeit verlierl nicht, wer vor dem Erwerbe der auslandischen Staatsangehorigkeit auf seinen Antrag die schriflliche Genehmigung der zustandigen Behorde seines Heimatstaats zur Beibehallung seiner Slaalsangehorigkeit erhalten hat. Vor der Erteilung der Geneh- migung ist der deutsche Konsul zu horen.)
