Can a Huguenot descendant vote in France?
Can Huguenot descendants get French citizenship?
French citizenship grants its beholder many rights and privileges, including free travel and ability to work in European Union countries, voting rights, settlement freedom in various former colonies, and national healthcare. These liberties and perks have landed France at the top spot of the Quality of Nationality Index since 2011, which rates nationalities based on the economic stability and peace of the country, travel and settlement freedom (where France excels due to its relations with a number of former colonies), human development, and other related factors.[1]
So, can Huguenot descendants get in on these benefits? There are a few factors to consider…
First, a Huguenot descendant would want to consider dual nationality laws in France and their current country of citizenship. France allows its citizens to have dual citizenship, meaning French citizens can take on another citizenship without foregoing their French citizenship, and those acquiring French citizenship are not required to give up their previous citizenship. It is also important to consider the dual citizenship laws of one’s current country. The US allows dual citizenship, so Huguenot descendants who are citizens in the US are in the clear.[2]
The descendant of a French person would need to investigate French laws on citizenship by jus sanguinis. Jus sanguinis, right of blood, refers to nationality and/or ethnicity of direct relations, contrary to jus soli, right of soil, through which citizenship is derived by naturalization, marriage, refugee status, birthplace, etc… Most nations today offer citizenship paths through both jus soli and jus sanguinis, including France. Citizenship based on jus sanguinis, the kind Huguenot descendants would be able to get, have changed throughout history in response to political and social motivations.
In 1790, the French government passed a law granting the descendants of French men and women who fled religious persecution the right to citizenship in France by jus sanguinis. The law did not mention Huguenots specifically, but certainly included them as a large portion of those who would fit the description of the religiously persecuted. The 1790 Law Regarding the Property of Religious Fugitives[3] cited that
“All persons born in a foreign country who are descendants, to any degree, of a French man or French woman who was expatriated for religious reasons, are declared French, and shall enjoy the rights [of citizenship] if they return to France, establish their domicile in France and take the civic oath.”* [4]
Voting instructions to recent immigrants from the Secretary of State for Minnesota Mike Holm, issued between 1920 – 1930; wikicommons
The right to citizenship was upheld and slightly amended by the Law of June 27, 1889 on Nationality which specified those forced to flee by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and requiring
“the descendants of families proscribed by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes shall continue to benefit from the provisions of the Law of Dec. 15, 1790, but on condition of a special decree for each petitioner.”*[5]
In 1945, things changed for foreign-born descendants of Huguenots. During World War II, the French Parliament dissolved, giving power to the Maréchal Philippe Pétain and his Vichy government. October 19, 1945, two days before the parliamentary elections, Charles De Gaulle’s Free French government passed a new nationality code through ordonnance, which rescinded the right to citizenship for descendants of those who fled religious persecution.[6]
Normally, Parliament gives the executive branch authority to legislate on a particular topic. Once the executive branch delivers this ordonnance, it needs to be ratified by Parliament within a pre-agreed upon time frame, or else cease to be considered law. In the case of the 1945 new nationality code, Parliament neither gave the Free French government authority to create an ordonnance on citizenship, nor a time frame within which it need be ratified, nor ratification itself. This is because no Parliament existed when the ordonnance was made. The ordonnance, which also legislates on topics aside from citizenship, stipulated that it be “executed as law,”[7] and since has been considered legitimate legislation.[8]
So, where does that leave descendants today? Barring any more recent French connections, Huguenot descendants hors-France are not entitled to French citizenship unless a Huguenot ancestor received citizenship prior to the 1945 nationality code. This would have required activating citizenship rights according to the law, by returning to and settling in France and taking an oath. A descendant of someone who activated their citizenship right will need to apply for a Certificat de Nationalité Française. The ancestor can only be as far back as a grandparent who must have resided in France in the past 50 years.[9] If the relation is farther back or there are no official ties to France within the past 50 years, the Certificat de Nationalité Française will be denied and the applicant will need to apply for reintegration. This can be done through Article 21-14 of the Civil Code which allows nationality to be declared provided the applicant have current cultural, professional, economic, family, or military service connections with France.[10]
French nationality laws are complex and consistently updated, so there may be other circumstances through which Huguenot descendants can acquire citizenship, or age or other restrictions that prevent it. Nevertheless, Huguenot descendants’ citizenship rights were by and large rescinded in 1945, allowing only those with a perfect alignment of circumstances to gain citizenship by way of lineage under current jus sanguinis law. The majority of Huguenot descendants today would need to go by way of naturalization to achieve the rights and privileges of French citizenship, as would anyone else, Huguenot-related or not.
*Law translations as published in
Boring, N. (2019). The Revocation of Huguenot Rights to French Citizenship. The Law Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/law/help/huguenot-citizenship/france.php#_ftn18
[1] Kaelin, C. H., Kochenov, D., & H. (2020). Quality of Nationality Index. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://www.nationalityindex.com/
[2] 8 U.S.C. 1481 http://lexpol.cloud.pf/document.php?document=188582&deb=380&fin=391&titre=T3Jkb25uYW5jZSBuwrAgNDUtMjQ0MSBkdSAxOS8xMC8xOTQ1
[3]Loi du 15 décembre 1790 relative aux biens des Religionnaires fugitifs, in Lois et Actes du Gouvernement, Vol. 2, October 1790 – February 1791 (1806), p. 242 https://perma.cc/BRY8-37R7.
[4] Id. art. 22.
[5] Loi du 27 juin 1889 sur la nationalité, art. 4, Journal Officiel de la République Française [J.O.] [Official Gazette of France], No. 172, June 28, 1889, pp. 2977-78, https://perma.cc/B95D-PPES.
[6] Ord. n° 45-2441 du 19 octobre 1945. http://lexpol.cloud.pf/document.php?document=188582&deb=380&fin=391&titre=T3Jkb25uYW5jZSBuwrAgNDUtMjQ0MSBkdSAxOS8xMC8xOTQ1
[7] Id. art 164.
[8] Boring, N. (2019, October). The Revocation of Huguenot Rights to French Citizenship. The Law Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/law/help/huguenot-citizenship/france.php#_ftn18
[9] Art. 30-3 C. civ. and Art. 23-6 C. civ.
[10] Art. 21-14 C. civ.