Suspicious Birth Certificates: French Nationality Certificate Denied

Ms X claims to be French by descent because she was born in Madagascar to a French father. She obtained the issuance of two certificates of French nationality in 2005 and then in 2007. In support of her claims, she provides birth certificates drawn up by the Malagasy authorities, her country of birth.

These birth certificates shall be recorded in the central civil registry office.

The Public Prosecutor's Office is challenging the issue of these certificates of French nationality because the birth certificates produced by Ms X to prove her French nationality are, in its view, apocryphal (that is to say, of doubtful origin).

Indeed, the two birth certificates bear the same number and the same date of registration but indicate two different dates of birth.

For the Court of Cassation, the transcription of a document to the central civil registry office does not prove its regularity. The appeal is dismissed. If she could not prove a certain and true civil status, Ms X had to show that she was French in another capacity.