Re Lim

• Jurisdiction: Tailandia
• Date: 31 October 1952
• Court: Supreme Court (Thailand)
• Docket Number: 54

Thailand, Supreme Court.

(Chamroon Netisart, Manupan Wimolsarn, Nonta Pracha.)

Case No. 54

In re Lim.

Nationality — Proof of — Registration as Alien — Whether Conclusive as to Nationality — The Law of Siam.

The Facts.—The petitioner asked the Court to pronounce upon his nationality under the Nationality Acts. The petitioner's father had previously applied for a Certificate of Alien Registration on the petitioner's behalf, stating that the petitioner was born in China and was therefore a Chinese. A Certificate of Alien Registration was issued on account of this statement. The petitioner now asked the Court to rectify what he considered to have been a mistake, and to cancel the Cerificate of Alien Registration by ordering that the petitioner was a Thai national. The Civil Court dismissed the petition on the ground that the rights of the petitioner were not being disputed. The dismissal was reaffirmed by the Court of Appeal.

Held: that the appeal must be dismissed. The Court said:

“The question of nationality is to be decided by the law of the State whose nationality is in question, or is being disputed or claimed. In the present case, this is the law of Thailand concerning nationality. If the petitioner was in fact a Thai national, the fact that the authorities had issued a Certificate of Alien Registration could not and would not deprive him of his Thai nationality (in the absence of any contrary provisions).1 The registration of aliens is only a pragmatic and not conclusive evidence that the registered persons were aliens. Their true nationality is governed by the law regarding nationality, without necessarily involving any...