Attorney-General v Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover [1957] 1 All ER 49; [1957] A.C. 436 was a 1956 House of Lords case concerning statutory interpretation and the proper construction of the Sophia Naturalization Act 1705.
Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, a German citizen but a linear descendant of the Electress Sophia, sought a declaration that he was a British subject under the 1705 and 1948 Acts.
The Attorney-General opposed the application, arguing that Parliament had not intended to naturalize a large number of remote descendants of the Electress Sophia when it passed the Sophia Naturalization Act 1705.
Viscount Simonds held that the words of the 1705 Act clearly naturalized all the linear, non-Catholic descendants of Electress Sophia of Hanover, no matter how remote.
[3]Prince Ernest's claim was allowed and he was recognized as a British subject.