Eliyeh Delavari 2.3 From 1906 until the 1979 Islamic Revolution In 1906, during the Constitutional Revolution22 of Iran, the first Iranian Constitution was signed by the monarch Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar. With the adoption of the first Constitution, legislation in Iran began. In order to ensure the imposition of Islamic rules in the legislation, Article 2 of the Constitution provided for a committee of at least five Islamic jurists to approve the bills passed by Parliament23. In the Supplementary Fundamental Laws of the Constitution, the issue of citizenship was raised and the rights of the citizens from non-citizens were distinguished24. Drafting rules and legal provisions for the Iranian society, in general, was one of the objectives of the Constitutionalist (supporters of the establishment of a Constitution). Some actions as well, such as establishment of a court system, were taken before the Revolution. After the political and security turmoil resulted from the 1921 Persian coup ‘d’état’ which led to the regime change from Qajar to Pahlavi, drafting the necessary laws and, most importantly, a Civil Code became also one of the subjects on the new government's agenda. Moreover, the government at that time planned to abolish capitulation for which the existence of a well-defined and advanced Civil Code was a prerequisite25. The first Iranian Civil Code, therefore, was drafted and enacted between 1928 and 193526 during the monarchy of Reza Shah Pahlavi and in the context of modernising its policies. Modernisation succeeded in some areas of law such as Commercial codes but the codification of the Civil Code was extensively based on Islamic law and the prevailing culture. Personal status law, in particular, retained classical Shia 27 legal concepts and has not changed significantly ever since. However, the provisions on nationality and domicile are among those which are influenced by European concepts and codes. In the first phase of the drafting process of the Civil Code, issues such as property ownership, contract law and etc., were of great importance. As a result, the first volume of the Civil Code, which included 955 articles, was assigned to these issues and was approved on 6 May 1928, which was a day before the capitulation was officially abolished. On 7 September 1929, Parliament passed the citizenship Law containing 16 articles28. In this law, both the principles of ius sanguinis and ius soli for the attribution of nationality were accepted. On 21 October 1930, with the approval of two other articles, called the Supplementary Law, the Citizenship Law was completed. The law was valid and complied with until 1935, when the second volume of the Iranian Civil Code was ratified. As a result, articles 22 The Persian Constitutional Revolution took place between 1905 and 1911, during Qajar dynasty. Persian Constitution of 1906, 7 October 1906, Art.2, available at: https://fisiran.org/en/resources/legaldoc/iranconstitution. 24 Articles 8-25 provided for a range of fundamental rights to which citizens of Iran were entitled, available at : https://fis-iran.org/en/resources/legaldoc/iranconstitution. 25 Parvis Owsia, ‘Sources of Law under English, French, Islamic and Iranian Law: A Comparative Review of Legal Techniques’, Arab Law quarterly, Vol 6; Issue 1, 1991, page 44. 26 First Volume: 8th May 1928; Second and Third Volume: From 26th January 1935 till 24th October 1935. 27 The Twelve Shia as the main Shia school is the official faith in Iran which shares common features - despite its differences as to certain details or some methodological principles- with the four main Sunni schools. In other words, their common pattern and structure make it possible to refer to them as a system called Islamic law; See: Parvis Owsia, ‘Sources of Law under English, French, Islamic and Iranian Law: A Comparative Review of Legal Techniques’, Arab Law quarterly, Vol 6; Issue 1, 1991, page 33. 28 ٩۵ ‫ ص‬,١٣٧۵ ,‫ ﮔﻧﺞ داﻧش‬:‫ ﺗﮭران‬,‫ اﻟﻣﻠل ﺧﺻوﺻﻲ ﺣﻘوق ﺑﯾن‬,‫ﺳﯾدﺟﻼل اﻟدﯾن ﻣدﻧﻲ‬. (Seyed Jalaledin Madani, International Private law, Tehran: Ganje Danesh, 1996, page 95). 23 4 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/13- © 2020 Author(s)