Historically, both English law and Scots law have distinguished between subjects of the monarch and aliens. Prior to 1914, most British nationality laws were uncodified. The British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914 consolidated the common law and other statutes related to nationality at that time, while making several minor amendments.
Entering the 20th century, with the development of the British Commonwealth and the subsequent independence of its member states, the single status of British subject used by the British Empire was no longer sufficient. In 1948, the heads of government of the Commonwealth countries agreed that each member state should establish its own nationality, while all Commonwealth citizens would continue to retain the status of British subjects.
The British Nationality Act 1948 established the status of Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC) as the citizenship for the United Kingdom and its remaining colonies when the Act came into effect on January 1, 1949. However, until the 1960s, British law did not make significant distinctions between the rights of CUKCs and other British subjects, as both could enter and settle in the UK at any time.
Between 1962 and 1971, the number of Commonwealth citizens from Asia and Africa migrating to the UK increased significantly, causing alarm, and the UK began to gradually tighten controls on the immigration of British subjects. The Immigration Act 1971 introduced the concept of "patriality," stipulating that only those with a sufficiently close connection to the British Islands (including the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man) possessed the right of abode, i.e., the right to settle and work in the United Kingdom.
Although the 1971 Act has been amended many times since, the core of current British nationality law is the British Nationality Act 1981. It established the current multiple categories of British nationality, including British citizen, British Overseas Territories citizen, British Overseas citizen, British National (Overseas), British subject, and British protected person. Among these, only British citizens have the right of abode in the UK.
The 1981 Act also ceased to regard Commonwealth citizens as British subjects. The remaining British subjects fall into only two categories: those who acquired British nationality due to connections with the former British India, and those who declared to retain British nationality due to connections with the Republic of Ireland before 1949. British subjects associated with the former British India will lose their British nationality if they acquire the nationality of another country.
