Granting citizenship following Caracal- la? The French experience and the Code Napoléon

Abstract

This article aims to provide an overview of the debate surrounding the first title of the French Civil Code (chap. I, De la jouissance des droits civils). This title is important for many reasons. The code civil is the most significant and influential example of civil codification during the Nineteenth century. The Code’s discipline as regards ‘citizenship’ as a principle of nationality based on jus sanguinis marks an important turning point in relation to revolutionary legislation based on jus soli. This debate was long and very complex and it saw Napoleon play an active role, favorable to the jus soli principle on account of his geo-strategic goals. The drafting and the debate evoke in different ways Roman law and the Antonine Constitution of 212 a.C. We can discern some analogies but it is more interesting to understand why French jurists and Parliament speakers evoke the Roman law topos to build their discursive strategies. If citizenship is a personal right, peculiar to every nation, how is it possible to extend it? The era of the French Civil Code opens up new horizons and new contradictions.