Crown—Prerogative

The claimant Pakistani national challenged the defendant Secretary of State’s refusal of a British passport to which she claimed to be entitled as a British citizen by descent. The Administrative Court, in allowing the application, held that there had to be only one standard of proof to be applied by law in demonstrating citizenship, which applied for all purposes and the normal civil standard had to apply. Accordingly, the Secretary of State’s decision had been erroneous in law and had to be quashed.