The rights of citizenship in a commune were characteristically used in Central Europe as a basis of the regulation of nationality of persons affected by state succession, and the peace treaties concluded after the First World War by the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy notably included this criterion. Although the rights of citizenship in a commune seemed more serviceable criterion during at the peace conference than habitual residence in these states, the different domestic regulations concerning Austrian and Hungarian territories and their interpretations by other states caused numerous problems and resulted in statelessness en masse. The aim of the present paper is to analyse the features and the differences of acquisition and loss of Austrian and Hungarian rights of citizenship in a commune, and to reveal their practical and interpterational problems. This study identifies the problems related to the nationality of persons affected by state succession after the First World War. These problems may also serve as an important lesson for the present, as the criteria that define persons concerned by the change of nationality in modern cases of state succession need to be selected carefully.