Senegalese Four Communes residents held voting rights yet no formal citizenship status

Evidence

Although these inhabitants could vote and were under the jurisdiction of French law, the majority had remained Muslim and continued to use Muslim courts to settle their civil suits. No law had ever been passed acknowledging their right to French citizenship, despite their privileged status-compared to the rest of the federation. Would, the minister asked, the projected decree automatically naturalize the Senegalese inhabitants-or originaires, as they were called-of the Four Communes? If so, would they agree to be governed by French law? Until their exact status had been determined, the minister did not feel that he could sign Roume’s proposed decree into law. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 357

Categorization

• QUESTION: What resolved the originaires’ ambiguous citizenship status in the eventual 1912 law? Worth chasing.
• XREF: Directly serves the reading goal on republicanism in West Africa: the Four Communes’ anomalous legal position is the crucible of French republican empire.
• CANDY: Muslim voters under French law who still used Muslim courts—a compact, eyebrow-raising anomaly.