Kathleen Commons

@kabcommons.bsky.social

1879 Followers 1365 Following

Researching immigration control in 17C England, and what it tells us about citizenship now and then. Co-convenor @ihr.bsky.social Migration and Mobility Seminar + currently work in refugee and migration legal(ish) sector kabcommons [at] gmail [dot] com

A second excerpt, reading "That capacious sort of allegiance, based on territorial jurisdiction, was a good measure of who was bound by the laws. But it’s strange to think it was the foundation for citizenship.

Whereas territorial jurisdiction was the basis for a generic allegiance to the laws, only an exclusive allegiance, in the sense of loyalty, could be the measure of who was an American citizen. That’s why the drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment repeatedly emphasized that its phrase “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States” meant exclusive jurisdiction. In their words, it referred to “complete” jurisdiction and applied to persons “not subject to some foreign Power.”"

Except from an article by Philip Hamburger reading "Justice Kagan said that the common law’s territorial rule was “very generous” in that it “extended citizenship to those born there who may not have been born of parent citizens.” Again, however, the common law rule was not about citizenship, and was not so much generous as merely sensible in saying that almost all persons in the king’s territory were his subjects and thus subject to his laws"

PhD Graduation photo of a woman and her mother

Call for papers for a seminar for ECRs and PGRs on migration and mobility history

Text from 1685 pamphlet, mentioning that the plaintiff in a court case consumed "two Pints of Wine"

Booking form with a special cancellation policy for "paranormal investigations"