Editing Right of return (section)

=== France ===

Another early example of [[national law]] recognizing the Right of Return was the French constitution of 1791, enacted on 15 December 1790:<ref name="ingles"/> 
{{blockquote|the freedom of everyone to go, to stay, or to leave, without being halted or arrested unless in accordance with procedures established by the Constitution.}}

The constitution put an end to the centuries-long persecution and discrimination of [[Huguenot]]s (French [[Protestant]]s).{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}. Concurrently with making all [[Protestant]]s resident in France into full-fledged citizens, the law enacted on December 15, 1790  stated that: 
{{blockquote|All persons born in a foreign country and descending in any degree of a French man or woman expatriated for religious reason are declared French nationals ({{lang|fr|naturels français}}) and will benefit to rights attached to that quality if they come back to France, establish their domicile there and take the civic oath.<ref name="André Encrevé 1999, p.66"/>}}

The [[revocation of the Edict of Nantes]] and expulsion of the Huguenots had taken place more than a century earlier, and there were extensive Huguenot diasporas in many countries, where they often intermarried with the population of the host country.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}} Therefore, the law potentially conferred French citizenship on numerous Britons, Germans, South Africans and others – though only a fraction actually took advantage of it.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}} This option for Huguenot descendants to gain French citizenship remained open until 1945, when it was abolished - since after the [[Occupation of France]], the French were unwilling to let Germans of Huguenot origin to take advantage of it. In October 1985, [[President of France|French President]] [[François Mitterrand]] issued a public apology to the descendants of [[Huguenots]] around the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://discours.vie-publique.fr/notices/857015500.html |title=Allocution de M. François Mitterrand, Président de la République, aux cérémonies du tricentenaire de la Révocation de l'Edit de Nantes, sur la tolérance en matière politique et religieuse et l'histoire du protestantisme en France, Paris, Palais de l'UNESCO, vendredi 11 octobre 1985 |publisher=Discours.vie-publique.fr |date=1985-10-11 |access-date=2016-04-04}}</ref>