Between Treaty Signature and Ratification: France and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness

Abstract This article investigates the legal consequences of treaty signature not followed by ratification, focusing on France’s 64-year-old signature of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. France’s engagement with the 1961 Convention is unusual, raising multiple questions. One question relates to the customary status of Article 18(a) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). This provision requires States to refrain from acts defeating a treaty’s object and purpose prior to ratification. However, France is not a party to the VCLT, and in any event the VCLT post-dates the 1961 Convention and does not apply retroactively. Therefore Article 18 does not apply to France unless equivalent obligations exist in customary law. Another question relates to France’s international obligations rooted in customary international law on statelessness. These obligations include rules of customary law which are codified in or have crystallised as a result of the 1961 Convention. After outlining the customary status of Article 18(a) VCLT and of key provisions of the 1961 Convention, the analysis turns to the role of France in drafting the Convention, its reservations, legislative practice and judicial engagement, and persistent failure to ratify despite legislative reforms and parliamentary debate. The article concludes that during the period between signature and ratification, France remains bound by two distinct sets of obligations arising from customary international law: those triggered by its signature under the obligation of a customary character reflected in Article 18(a) VCLT and those triggered by the customary obligations of States in relation to statelessness. Furthermore, the mere passage of time does not extinguish those obligations.