Just imagine if no-one had a “residential address”?
If you only had an “in c/o 123 Whatever Street”, in the suburb next door.
Locking yourself into an address “where you live”, is effectively making you, literally…
A sitting duck.
So
If your postal address is “in c/o (your mate up the road or in the town next over, or even in another state)”, you won’t be a sitting duck any more.
That is:
Your mate in a town near by, agrees to be your “postal address”, and you agree to be his “postal address”.
How much fun will they have trying to find “you”.
“He doesn’t live here, this is just a postal address, I have no idea where he lives, bye”.
The requirement of having a “registered” address was first brought in around the 14th and 15th centuries. It was never for your benefit, but to be able to track you down and attach “you” to rules, regulations, liabilities.
Address
b : directions for delivery on the outside of an object (such as a letter or package).
c : the designation of place of delivery placed between the heading and salutation on a business letter.
d : the designation of an account from which one can send or receive email.
residence (n.)
late 14c., “act of dwelling in a place; one’s dwelling place,” from Old French residence, from Medieval Latin residentia (source also of Spanish residencia, Italian residenza), from Latin residentem (nominative residens) “residing, dwelling,” present participle of residere “to settle, linger, sit down” (see reside). Meaning “fact of having one’s usual abode in a particular place” is from late 15c. The sense of “a staying in some place for the discharge of special duties or one’s occupation” is also from late 14c., originally ecclesiastical, extended 19c. to professors, artists, poets, etc. The expression _____-in-residence is attested by 1954. Also borrowed into German (Residenz), Dutch (residentie).
non-residence (n.)
also nonresidence, “fact of not residing within a particular jurisdiction,” late 14c., originally with reference to clergy living away from their pastorate or charge, from non- + residence. Related: Non-residency.
domicile
In law and conflict of laws, domicile is relevant to an individual’s “personal law”, which includes the law that governs a person’s status and their property. It is independent of a person’s nationality. Although a domicile may change from time to time, a person has only one domicile, or residence, at any point in their life, no matter what their circumstances.[1] Domicile is distinct from habitual residence, where there is less focus on future intent.
As domicile is one of the connecting factors ordinarily used in common law legal systems, a person can never be left without a domicile and a domicile is acquired by everyone at birth.[2] Generally domicile can be divided into domicile of origin, domicile of choice, and domicile by operation of law (also known as domicile of dependency).[3] When determining the domicile of an individual, a court applies its own law and understanding of what domicile is.[4]
In some common-law countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, the concept of domicile has been subject to statutory reform.[5] Further, under Canada‘s Divorce Act, domicile has been replaced as the basis for which a provincial court has jurisdiction to hear and determine a divorce proceeding. Instead, “A court in a province has jurisdiction to hear and determine a divorce proceeding if either spouse has been habitually resident in the province for at least one year immediately preceding the commencement of the proceeding”.[6] Although domicile was traditionally known as the most appropriate connecting factor to establish an individual’s personal law, its significance has declined over the years in common law systems.[7]