by virtue of

Idioms  

1. Also in virtue of. On the grounds of, by reason of, as in By virtue of a large inheritance she could easily afford not to work. [Early 1300s]

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Example Sentences

The Supreme Court ruled, however, that he was a US citizen by virtue of being born in the United States.

From Barron's

As Justice Gray put it for the court: “The question presented by the record is whether a child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Emperor of China, but have a permanent domicil and residence in the United States, . . . becomes at the time of his birth a citizen of the United States by virtue of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The ones stamped with third and final notice I labeled with bright yellow Post-it flags and filed them on top, leaving the most recent and by virtue of that, I rationalized, less important at the back.

From Literature

"The government of the Maldives maintains the firm position that, by virtue of historical and geographical proximity, it holds a prior claim to sovereign rights over the Chagos Archipelago over any other state," the statement said.

From BBC

“So just by virtue of that alone, it became kind of my identity. You know, Mikey plays trumpet. Plus, I was very shy and weird as a kid, so it was something that I did and had a little notoriety for until I started playing bass.”

From Los Angeles Times