Local Citizenship in the Croatian-Slavonian Legal Area in the First Yugoslavia (1918–1941): Breakdown of a Concept?

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The concept of local citizenship had long tradition on Croatian-Slavonian territory. It was established in the period before 1918 when Croatia-Slavonia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The concept indicated connection of a person with a municipality but also had important role in internal matters in Croatia-Slavonia as a basis of special Croatian-Slavonian affiliation within the lands of the Hungarian Crown. The concept was based on the principle of ius sanguinis, and it was fundamental condition for enjoyment of political and social rights. As such, it was very important element of Croatian identity in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Previous remarks represent starting point of our analysis of local citizenship in the period from 1918 to 1941 when Croatia-Slavonia was part of the new Yugoslav state. The key issues we deal with is how Croatian-Slavonian model of local citizenship functioned in new circumstances and how the central authorities in Belgrade responded on this specific regulation of local citizenship. In other words, in which way the authorities used law as an instrument of transforming reality. Our thesis is that the central authorities promoted centralized model of state and thus abolished concept of Croatian-Slavonian local citizenship as a form of separate Croatian identity. The analysis will include functional, as well as axiological approach. By using functional approach, we will analyse problems in legal practice, especially closed character of Croatian-Slavonian local citizenship and the fact that many migrants did not acquire local citizenship in a municipality they settled. Special attention will be given to the new Yugoslavian regulation about acquisition and loss of local citizenship from 1933. The norms of the new law will be analysed in the light of transplantation and subsequent adaptation of models from Austrian and Hungarian law. We will demonstrate how this new regulation reduced importance of ius sanguinis and eased possibilities of acquisition of local citizenship. By using axiological approach we will explore how the authorities promoted the concept of national citizenship as a basis of political and social rights and in this way strengthened Yugoslavian identity while in parallel annulled significance of Croatian-Slavonian local citizenship. Finally, we will conclude that the authorities in Belgrade by using law successfully abolished concept of Croatian-Slavonian local citizenship as a form of separate Croatian identity and reduced importance of local citizenship in the legal system.