bcla
On our rugged Eastern foothills.....
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2012
It's not legally US territory. It's just property owned/leased by the US government for an official government purpose. For instance, if a pregnant woman in labor just happened to give birth in that area, the child wouldn't be considered a US citizen by birth according to US jus soli citizenship/nationality law. However, the US can assert special jurisdiction over its own property overseas, and bring criminal suspects to trial in such areas for suspected crimes.I’m at a gate now at Pearson. The customs people are Americans. One goes through customs here at the airport for flights to the US. I’ve heard the US customs area at the airport is considered US territory some how but not sure about that.
Canada has apparently done that once, and it was a special case where they declared a hospital maternity room to be outside of Canada.
The Princess was born in Ottawa Civic Hospital, Ottawa to Princess Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Her mother was heir presumptive to Queen Wilhelmina.
The Dutch family had been living in Canada since June 1940 after the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany. The maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital in which Princess Margriet was born was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government. Making the maternity ward outside of the Canadian domain caused it to be unaffiliated with any jurisdiction and technically international territory. This was done to ensure that the newborn would derive her citizenship from her mother only, thus making her solely Dutch, which could have been very important if the child had been male, and as such, the heir of Princess Juliana. It is a common misconception that the Canadian government declared the maternity ward to be Dutch territory. Since Dutch nationality law is based primarily on the principle of jus sanguinis it was not necessary to make the ward Dutch territory for the Princess to become a Dutch citizen if the parent is Dutch. Since Canada followed the rule of jus soli, it was necessary for Canada to disclaim the territory temporarily so that the child would not become a Canadian citizen.