Forthcoming in the Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law (27) On the request of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), 51 the Commission decided to start working on ‘nationality, including statelessness’ already in 1951, while appointing Manley O. Hudson as its special rapporteur. At the beginning of the Commission’s fourth session, the US lawyer submitted a detailed, exploratory report52 covering general aspects of the regulation of nationality, the question of nationality of married persons, and statelessness. Apart from outlining some historical aspects of the international law on nationality and the interactions between domestic and international legal orders in this area, the first part of the report discussed the limits on the freedom of states in nationality matters. For instance, according to Hudson, while it was for states to settle, by their own legislation, the rules concerning the acquisition of their nationality, state practice seemed to indicate that nationality could only be established by birth (jus soli), descent (jus sanguinis), or by a combination of both criteria.53 Moreover, though no rules could be imparted from state practice on naturalization, this form of conferral of nationality was found to be contingent on the existence of a factual attachment – either personal or territorial – between the individual and the conferring state.54 In its final part, the report identified the different causes of55 and problems evoked by statelessness. In Hudson’s view, statelessness could be eliminated altogether through the adoption of two main rules: first, where no other nationality is acquired at birth, individuals should be given the nationality of the state in whose territory they were born; secondly, any loss of nationality after birth should be conditional on the acquisition of another nationality. 56 ECOSOC Res. 319 B III (XI), ‘Refugees and Stateless Persons’ (11 August 1950). The report, however, bore the fingerprints of Paul Weis, one of the greatest experts on the issue, who had spent seven weeks working with the special rapporteur on his ILC study. 53 UN ILC, ‘Report on Nationality, Including Statelessness by Mr. Manley O. Hudson, Special Rapporteur’ (1952) UN Doc. A/CN.4/50, at 7. 54 Ibid., at 8. 55 These were: differences in national legislation, especially regarding the jus soli and jus sanguinis criteria for the acquisition of nationality by birth; marriage; deprivation of nationality; state succession; and changes of status of parents. 56 UN ILC, ‘Report on Nationality, Including Statelessness by Mr. Manley O. Hudson, Special Rapporteur’, at 20. 51 52 14 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4816199