automatic attribution of nationality based on birth on the territory, (unless the father was a diplomat and the mother was not a citizen). None of these laws was gender neutral, and provisions relating to married women made them dependent on their husband’s status; while the rights of women to pass nationality to their children (born outside the country) were limited.16 The practice in the French colonies was different: after the adoption of the 1958 constitution of the French Community (for all but Togo and Guinea), relations with metropolitan France were governed by individual treaties, but the regulation of nationality was left to the new members of the Community, or to the fully independent states after the short-lived period of the Community came to an end. According to French law, nationality in the context of the state successions was based on the criterion of domicile, a requirement based on residence (though with more particular definition in French law): the principle established to govern the succession of states was that French nationals with local civil status domiciled in the newly independent states lost French nationality on the day of transfer of sovereignty. If domicile was not clear, the person concerned must clarify it, and the courts could ultimately decide on this point. A law of 28 July 1960 then permitted French citizens (including those who had been citizens of the “four communes”) to keep their French nationality even if they acquired the nationality of the new state, and persons originating from the new states to retain their French nationality by option, under certain conditions (for example, based on service in the French army).17 There were important variations among the former French territories, though in sub-Saharan francophone Africa, the new nationality codes and provisions on state succession mostly followed a pattern modelled on the French nationality code of 1945. This included the adoption of provisions on double jus soli and the automatic right to citizenship for those born in the country and still resident there at majority. In addition, the AOF countries often included transitional provisions that provided easier access to citizenship for natives of other former AOF colonies (and other French colonies in general), based on option within a limited period after independence, though ongoing access was more rarely included. In Senegal, for example, the code de la nationalité adopted in 1961 (and still in force, as amended) provides in its first article that any person born on territory is Senegalese if one parent is also born there; in addition the article creates a presumption that this is the case if the person is in practice treated as a Senegalese by others (that is, the person has possession d’état de national). As a transitional provision, a right to opt for Senegalese nationality was also given to all persons from the former AOF and AEF territories, Togo, Cameroon and Madagascar, as well as persons married to Senegalese and persons from neighbouring countries, if they were resident in Senegal at the date of entry into force of nationality code. The option had to be exercised within three months of the entry into force of the new code.18 16 Fransman’s British Nationality Law, Chapter 3 and catalogue entries on Commonwealth countries; see also “Second Report on State Succession and its impact on the nationality of natural and legal persons, by Mr. Vaclav Mikulka, Special Rapporteur”, A/CN.4/474 and Corr.1 and 2. Extract from the Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1996 Vol.II(1). 17 Loi n° 60-752 du 28 juillet 1960 portant modification de certaines dispositions du code de la nationalité française ; see Ruth Donner, The Regulation of Nationality in International Law, 2nd Ed, Transnational Publishers, Inc., 1994, Chapter V “Nationality and State Succession”, section 3.2.2. 18 Code de la nationalité sénégalaise, articles 1, 29 and 30. 10