Editing Nationality (section)

== International law ==
Nationality is the status that allows a nation to grant rights to the subject and to impose obligations upon the subject.<ref name=Kadelbach /> In most cases, no rights or obligations are automatically attached to this status, although the status is a necessary precondition for any rights and obligations created by the state.<ref name=Bast>{{cite book |editor1-last= von Bogdandy |editor1-first=Armin |editor2-last=Bast |editor2-first=Jürgen |title=Principles of European Constitutional Law. |date=2009 |publisher=Hart Pub. |location=Oxford |isbn=9781847315502 |pages=449–451 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

In European law, nationality is the status or relationship that gives the nation the right to protect a person from other nations.<ref name=Kadelbach /> [[Diplomatics|Diplomatic]] and [[consular protection]] are dependent upon this relationship between the person and the state.<ref name="Kadelbach">{{cite book |last1=Kadelbach |first1=Stefan |editor1-last=Ehlers |editor1-first=Dirk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHep8q-OxboC |title=European Fundamental Rights and Freedoms |chapter=Part V: Citizenship Rights in Europe |date=2007 |publisher=De Gruyter Recht |location=Berlin |isbn=9783110971965 |pages=547–548 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHep8q-OxboC&pg=PA547 |access-date=2016-05-06 |archive-date=2021-03-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308034455/https://books.google.com/books?id=BHep8q-OxboC |url-status=live }}</ref> A person's status as being the national of a country is used to resolve the [[conflict of laws]].<ref name="Bast" />

Within the broad limits imposed by a few treaties and international law, states may freely define who are and are not their nationals.<ref name=Kadelbach /> However, since the [[Nottebohm case|''Nottebohm'' case]], other states are only required to respect the claim(s) by a state to protect an alleged national if the nationality is based on a true social bond.<ref name=Kadelbach /> In the case of dual nationality, the states may determine the most effective nationality for the person, to determine which state's laws are the most relevant.<ref name="Bast" /> There are also limits on removing a person's status as a national. Article 15 of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] states that "Everyone has the right to a nationality," and "No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality."