Where Do You Think You're From?
October 3rd, 2007
When a lawyer in a common law jurisdiction such as Bermuda (as opposed to a civil law jurisdiction) (jurisdiction being the territorial range of the law’s control) asks you where you’re from, your answer could have surprising legal results. This is because factors like a person’s residence, nationality and domicile are some of the ways in which different countries—especially their tax authorities—link us all to our personal system of law. In common law legal systems, that personal law is what is called your “domicile” yet domicile is not the same as nationality, citizenship and residence.