I started to draft this back in the day and ran out of steam:

What is a passport anyway?
It says that to officials of another country that you are afforded legal protection in a foreign country by the country of issue.
In which case the idea of a passport as a prerequisite for travel is unsound (there is no obligation to buy travel insurance when going abroad, so why should one be required to have the ‘insurance’ of the State when going abroad?
Certainly when travelling within the EU where legal frameworks are almost homogenous anyway.)

The truth is that the mass British Passport has always been an identity document:

The modern passport system really began at the time of the First World War, when states began to issue passports as a way of distinguishing their own citizens from those they saw as foreign nationals.

The British Nationality and Status Aliens Act 1914 was part of this process.

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History of British Nationality Law

The UN charter relating to stateless persons

… The personal status of a stateless person shall be governed by the law of the country of his domicile or, if he has no domicile, by the law of the country of his residence…

…Article 27. – Identity papers

The Contracting States shall issue identity papers to any stateless person in their territory who does not possess a valid travel document.
Article 28. – Travel documents

The Contracting States shall issue to stateless persons lawfully staying in their territory travel documents for the purpose of travel outside their territory, unless compelling reasons of national security or public order otherwise require, and the provisions of the schedule to this Convention shall apply with respect to such documents. The Contracting States may issue such a travel document to any other stateless person in their territory; they shall in particular give sympathetic consideration to the issue of such a travel document to stateless persons in their territory who are unable to obtain a travel document from the country of their lawful residence…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 at 12:34 pm and is filed under History, The Law.