African access to French courts required formal naturalization as French citizens

Evidence

The 1912 decree began from the very different principle that all African sujets, no matter where they lived, belonged under the jurisdiction of native courts. Only Africans who had been naturalized by decree and had become French citoyens would continue to have access to French courts (articles r and 2). Before 1912, such naturalization was impossible because appropriate legislation was lacking. The logical prerequisite for the 1912 reform was the signing of a naturalization decree, which received ministerial approval on May 25, 1912. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 417

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: the MOC “The Republic’s Impossible Embrace: How Universalism Turned Algeria from the Future of France into Its Undoing”