The relationship between marriage customs and citizenship is the principle involved in a curious Bill which is said to have been introduced in the French Chamber of Deputies. The object of the bill is to make as a condition of French citizenship for natives of Senegal the formal renunciation of polygamy. By a law of 1833 all free persons of Senegal, as of other French colonies, were accorded civil and political rights. In Senegal the great majority of natives are Musalmans and they have been allowed to follow their own customs and laws according to the Koran, including polygamy, while exercising their right to vote in the colony. This, however, did not prevent the Chamber and Senate from voting in 1916 that natives of the communes of Senegal enjoying civic rights were French citizens.
