## Facts

- A German citizen (“X”) obtained a document in 1975 purporting to grant him “citizenship” of the self-proclaimed “Duchy of Sealand.”
- Sealand consisted of a former British offshore anti-aircraft platform fixed to the seabed by concrete pillars, located about eight nautical miles off Great Britain and then outside U.K. territorial waters.
- The platform was occupied in 1967 by Roy Bates, who proclaimed Sealand and later issued a constitution and governmental titles; X claimed to be Sealand’s “Foreign Secretary” and “Chairman of the Council of State.”
- In 1976 X asked German nationality authorities to declare that he had lost German nationality under § 25(1) of the 1913 German Nationality Act (RuStAG) by voluntarily acquiring a foreign nationality.
- The authorities refused, reasoning Sealand was not a foreign state capable of conferring a legally relevant nationality.
- X filed an administrative action seeking a declaratory judgment that he had lost German citizenship; the court found the action admissible but rejected it on the merits.

## Issues

1. Whether the “Duchy of Sealand,” an artificial offshore platform, qualified as a state under international law capable of conferring nationality.
2. Whether acquiring purported Sealand “citizenship” constituted voluntary acquisition of a “foreign nationality” under § 25(1) RuStAG, thereby causing loss of German citizenship.

## Decision

- The Administrative Court of Cologne dismissed the claim as unfounded.
- The court held Sealand was not a state under international law because essential elements of statehood were missing, particularly territory and a “people.”
- Because Sealand was not a state, its purported “citizenship” was not a foreign nationality under § 25(1) RuStAG.
- X therefore did not lose German citizenship by obtaining Sealand “citizenship.”

## Legal Principles

- Statehood under international law requires at least territory, a people, and government (three-element doctrine).
- “Territory” for statehood must be a natural segment of the earth’s surface; an artificial offshore installation, even if fixed to the seabed, does not satisfy the territorial requirement.
- A “people” requires more than a small group or listed “citizens”; it must constitute a stable community oriented toward enduring communal life and a shared common destiny.
- Loss of German nationality for voluntary acquisition of a foreign nationality presupposes acquisition of an effective nationality conferred by a sovereign state in the sense of international law.

## Conclusion

The court rejected a bid to treat Sealand as a foreign state for nationality-law purposes, holding that an artificial platform lacked the required territorial base and that its residents and purported citizens did not constitute a “people,” so Sealand could not confer a foreign nationality capable of terminating German citizenship under § 25(1) RuStAG.


In re Duchy of Sealand, No. 9 K 2565/77 (VG Köln May 3, 1978)