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peace.” 62 The codification process, which contemplated both contemporary State practice and progressive development efforts, 63 produced the 1929 Draft Convention on Nationality. 64 The Draft Convention, citing municipal law and post-World War I treaties,
prescribed extension of nationality on the basis of jus soli or jus sanguinis, with a preference for the former. 65 Further, it provided several safeguards against statelessness. 66 Forty States signed onto the
terms of the Draft Convention, reproduced in the 1930 Hague Convention on Certain Questions relating to the Conflict of Nationality
Laws and the Hague Protocol Relating to a Certain Case of Statelessness. 67 Similar treaties, like the 1933 Convention on Nationality
concluded at the 7th Inter-American Conference, 68 were promulgated
at the regional and bilateral levels. 69
In the interwar era, treaties were the only source of international law regulating the extension of nationality. In the absence of
relevant treaty obligations, States retained unfettered ability to regulate the acquisition and loss of nationality. 70 Several States that had
acceded to the Hague Convention revised their nationality laws in accordance with their treaty obligations, but most did not. 71 A few
62. Id.
63. See Deak, supra note 61, at 142 (“As a general rule, the drafts are not limited to a
statement of existing international law, but contain certain provisions which, if adopted,
would formulate new law.”).
64. Harvard Draft Convention on Nationality, 23 AM. J. INT’L L. SPECIAL SUPP. 12
(1929) (reprinted in YAFFA ZILBERSHATS, THE HUMAN RIGHT TO CITIZENSHIP 187 (2002)).
65. Article 3 provides for extension of nationality on either basis, but Article 4 limits
States’ ability to confer their nationality on multiple generations of persons born outside
their territory. The only limitations on jus soli extension of nationality arise when a child’s
parents are officers, including diplomatic personnel, of another State. Id.
66. As an example, Article 7 provides that States “shall” confer their nationality upon
foundlings. Article 8 attempts to ensure that children born out of wedlock will have a
nationality. Article 9 provides that States “shall” confer their nationality upon persons born
within their territory who would otherwise be stateless. Id. Today, these proposed treaty
obligations are some of the mechanisms that States use to give effect to the right to a
nationality, as it exists in customary international law.
67. Ivan Kerno, Analysis of Changes in Nationality Legislation of States Since 1930,
U.N. Doc. A/CN.4/67, at 2 (1953).
68. See, e.g., Convention on Nationality, Dec. 26, 1933 (reprinted in UNITED NATIONS,
LEGISLATIVE SERIES, LAWS CONCERNING NATIONALITY 585 (1954)).
69. Manley Hudson, Report on Nationality, Including Statelessness, U.N. Doc.
A/CN.4/50, at 6 (1952).
70. Bases of Discussion Drawn up for the Conference by the Preparatory Committee—
Nationality, League of Nations Doc. C.73.M.38 1929 V (1929).
71. Kerno, supra note 67, at 3; VISHNIAK, supra note 38, at 18.
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2954729