Unity Dow v. Attorney General
Botswana High Court
Misca. 124/1990, June 1991 reported in (2001) AHRLR 99 (BwCA 1992) (1991)
- Written by Kelly Simon, JD
Facts
Under Botswana’s Citizenship Act 1984 (the citizenship act), any child born in Botswana whose father was a Botswanan citizen was also a Botswanan citizen, regardless of whether the child’s parents were married. A child born out of wedlock whose mother was a Botswanan citizen would also be a Botswanan citizen. In contrast, a Botswanan mother married to a noncitizen father could not pass Botswanan citizenship to her child. Unity Dow (plaintiff) was a citizen of Botswana. She was married to a US citizen, and her husband was a permanent resident of Botswana. Dow and her husband had two children after their marriage. The Botswanan government denied citizenship to both children under the citizenship act. Dow filed an application against the government of Botswana (defendant), arguing that the citizenship act was an unconstitutional violation of her rights to liberty, protection of the law, immunity from expulsion from Botswana, and protection from degrading treatment and of her right not to be subject to sex-based discrimination.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)
What to do next…
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
