Dr. Ewart Brown MP is legally eligible to sit in the House of Assembly.

Mr. Timothy Marshall said the Constitution clearly prohibits Dr. Brown from serving in Bermuda's Parliament until he renounces the American citizenship he obtained in 1990.

But Mr. Rod Attride-Stirling said the Progressive Labour Party MP has done nothing illegal and the controversy should be put to rest.

Meanwhile, former House clerk Mr. John Gilbert said Dr. Brown's seat should be declared vacant and a by-election called.

The three men made their comments after The Royal Gazette revealed this week that Dr. Brown won his Progressive Labour Party seat in Warwick West in 1993 after pledging allegiance to the United States, in apparent violation of Bermuda's Constitution.

Section 30(1)(a) of Bermuda's Constitution reads: "No person shall be qualified to be appointed as a Senator or elected as a member of the House of Assembly who is, by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.'' Dr. Brown, who practised medicine in Los Angeles for many years before returning to Bermuda in 1992, told The Royal Gazette on Wednesday that he obtained his American citizenship in 1990 by taking an oath of allegiance to the United States.

The wording of Bermuda's Constitution would not prohibit a Bermudian who held American citizenship from running for the House of Assembly if they obtained their citizenship through birth.

But in Dr. Brown's case, the wording is clear, Mr. Marshall said.

"If you apply for citizenship in a foreign jurisdiction, you forfeit your ability to serve in Bermuda's Senate, or in Parliament, save for the possibility that the entity you are swearing allegiance to happens to be the Queen,'' he said.

Mr. Marshall said it was up to the Attorney General to rectify the issue, but Dr. Brown could himself resolve the matter by renouncing his US citizenship, as he has said he would be willing to do.

Unlike Mr. Gilbert, Mr. Marshall did not feel Dr. Brown's seat would have to be declared vacant and a Warwick West by-election called. Renouncing his US citizenship would satisfy the Constitution by removing a situation in which an Lawyers disagree on the meaning of allegiance "has alllegiance to two countries''.

But Mr. Attride-Stirling, who recently used Constitutional arguments to successfully argue his case as a conscientious objector from the Bermuda Regiment before the Court of Appeal, said the oath that Dr. Brown swore in 1990 did not prevent him from serving as a Bermuda MP.

"I believe that the way it's been interpreted is in fact incorrect,'' Mr.

Attride-Stirling said.

Wording similar or identical to 30(1)(a) is found in the Constitutions of virtually all former colonies of the United Kingdom, he said.

"The way that section has been interpreted in other places outside Bermuda is that that section is applicable to oaths of office that are taken for judicial office, for example, or if you had joined the foreign military.

"The fact that an individual has taken an oath of citizenship is no prohibition.'' Mr. Gilbert, who served as Clerk of the House for about ten years, said Dr.

Brown "has been elected under false pretences,'' and "I don't think there could be any question of anything but a by-election settling the matter.'' "There's no doubt about it in my mind,'' Mr. Gilbert said. "The Constitution is clear. He cannot be a Member of Parliament.'' Mr. Gilbert said it was up to Attorney General Mr. Elliott Mottley, as chief law officer of the Crown, to give his advice on the matter. Mr. Mottley has declined to comment.

For now, the matter is "sub judice,'' and should not be mentioned in Parliament, the former Clerk said.

No mention of the controversy was made by House Speaker the Hon. Ernest DeCouto yesterday when Dr. Brown entered the House and took his seat moments after the session convened at 10 a.m.

"I think the Attorney General would have to take a look at it and give a ruling,'' Mr. Gilbert said. "There are inquiries, I would imagine, going on behind the scenes.'' These are the words Dr. Ewart Brown MP spoke when he obtained his American citizenship, according to a US Immigration official.

Oath of Allegiance "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States, when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me God.'' Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.''