Danish Citizenship Act of 1776
The Danish Citizenship Act of 1776 )Danish Indfødsretsforordningen af 1776 or simply Indfødsretten af 1776) was an act promulgated by Christian VII under which access to public positions in the kingdom of Denmark became the prerogative of native-born subjects and those who were considered their equals.
History
The Danish court was for centuries dominated by German-speaking aristocratic immigrants, culminating with Johann Friedrich Struensee's de facto rule in 1770-72. The Danish Citizenship Act of 1776 was created at the initiative of Ove Høegh-Guldberg in response to growing anti-German sentiment in the population following Struensee's fall in 1772, especially among the country's emerging bourgeoisie. The act was proclaimed on Christian VII's birthday, giving the right of citizenship constitutional status, and the king promised that it would never be withdrawn. After that, attaining office was only possible for those born in the state, which was defined as all of the king's kingdoms and lands, i.e. Denmark, Norway and the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.Exemptions aimed at attracting wealthy foreigners were few. The right of citizenship legitimized the national identity that had developed in bourgeois Danish circles, where the law was received with enthusiasm. However, it did not eradicate Danish dislike of the king's German-speaking subjects, which culminated in the German Feud of 1789-90.
With the adoption of the Danish constitution in 1849, the authority to grant naturalisation was transferred from the king to the parliament. Apart from its provisions on naturalisation, the Danish Citizenship Act of 1776 remained in force until 1898, when Denmark introduced its first general citizenship legislation with the adoption of the Act on the Acquisition and Loss of Citizenship.