Richmond Enquirer

INTERESTING LAW CASE.

Paris, July 18. M. Brunet, a Frenchman by birth, during a long residence in England, had obtained from his Britannic majesty letters of denization. Having returned to France, he brought an action against the English general Crewe, for a sum of money which he owed him. The latter pleaded that the plaintiff, having become an English denizen, had lost his former national character, and could not, according to the laws of France, sue another Englishman in the French tribunals. This question was argued at three successive solemn sittings, and the court decreed this day, according to the opinion of the advocate general Marchangy, that it is established by the authority of the English jurists, and the usages of Great Britain, that letters of denization are not equivalent to an act of naturalization; that the latter can only emanate from the omnipotence of parliament, on abjuring the Catholic religion, taking the oath of allegiance, &c. while a patent of denization, granted by the king, does not divest the individual of his former national character; but his alien condition is only bettered by his being enabled to purchase lands, &c. The plaintiff, therefore, having never ceased to be a Frenchman, judgment was given in his favor.