The Constitution of the Syrian Kingdom (1919–1920) and the French Archival Question

Abstract

This article presents the first known original Arabic copy of the constitution of the Syrian Kingdom, likely composed in late 1919. By comparing this text to previously published versions and by exploring its archival afterlife, the article contributes to debates about state-making in the early post-Ottoman era, about the legal-political meaning of this document, and about the French policy toward the Arab government. I identify three developments: the Syrian assembly’s agreement to acknowledge descendants of the Prophet (the ashrāf ) from King al-Hussein’s line as having a right to the throne, the reduction in the scope of monarchical authority, and the shift from administrative independence to administrative decentralization in the government–provinces relationship of the new Syrian polity. Comparing this text with its French translations, I also date a documented mistranslation of the constitution’s religion clause and situate it within the practices of French translation bureaucracy rather than in a centrally directed policy. The article concludes by turning to the private papers of French officials in the diplomatic archive and asking why copies of this constitution have not yet surfaced in Syria itself.