 treaties, that is, the territories annexed to the original state territory, but also to the territory preceding the peace treaties. These provisions seek to guarantee protection to the minorities in the original state territory as well. We can find the following exceptions to this general rule in the treaties:
- Provisions of Article 9 Paragraph 3 of the Polish Minorities Treaty apply to Polish citizens of German speech only in that part of Poland which was German territory on 1 August 1914 and then was annexed to Poland with the Peace Treaty.
- Provisions of Article 9 Paragraph 3 of the Minorities Treaty of the Serb-Croatian-Slovenian State apply only to territory transferred to Serbia or to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes since 1 January 1913.
- Similarly, provisions of Article 9 Paragraph 3 of the Greek Minorities Treaty apply only to territory transferred to Greece since 1 January 1913.
Despite these regulations, the Assembly of the League of Nations expressed its hope at its 3rd Full Session on 21 September 1922 that all the states not bound by minority protection treaties and, therefore, not linked to the League of Nations, would nevertheless be equally fair and tolerant towards the minorities in their territory as the countries bound by treaties have be.
4. Contents of the Relevant Provisions of the Minorities Treaties and Peace Treaties (Substantive Minority Law)
Below is an analysis of the contents of the Polish Minorities Treaty. The other minority protection treaties were modelled on this one.
Every minorities treaty, the provisions of the peace treaties, and the contents of the declarations by Albania, Lithuania, and Iraq more or less correspond to the Polish Minorities Treaty. Their similar traits can be categorised according to five conceptual units:
1. All citizens of a country are entitled to the right to life and liberty, and the free exercise of religion.
2. Right to citizenship: One is entitled to citizenship in the case his habitual residence or domicile ("leur domicile ou leur indigénat"; pertinenza; Heimatsrecht) is in the country at the date of the coming into force of the treaty, or when he was born in the territory of the country. The stipulations that applied to citizenship differed in the various treaties, but these two elements could be found in all of them. There are few exceptions to the first above-mentioned provision; one in Article 91 Paragraph 2 of the Versailles Peace Treaty, according to which German nationals or their descendants who became resident in Polish territory after January 1, 1908, will not acquire Polish nationality without a special authorisation from the Polish State. In several treaties a third ground was also included: persons who were born in the territory of the country from parents habitually resident there, but they did not live in the territory at the date of the coming into force of the treaty, could nevertheless acquire the citizenship of the given country.
3. The rights of ethnic, religious and minorities. These are: equality before the law, equal civil and political rights, as for instance admission to public employments; free use of the mother tongue in private and business life, religious activity, in the press or in publications of any kind, at public meetings or before the courts; equal rights to establish at their own expense charitable, religious and social institutions; in those towns and districts, where there is a considerable proportion ("proportion considérable") of Polish nationals belonging to racial, religious or linguistic minorities, their right for education in their mother tongue, and an equitable share from those sums that are allocated from public funds under the State, municipal or other budget for educational, religious or charitable purposes..
4. The legal character of the obligations enumerated above: According to Article 1, the state recognised these stipulations as fundamental laws that no law, regulation or official action should conflict or interfere with. According to the last article of the treaties, so far as the tr