Even "originaires" were not free from summary law. During 1908, most African voters in Saint-Louis were eliminated from the rolls, and in the "Decree of 1912", the government said that only "originaires" who complied with the rigorous demands of those seeking French citizenship from the outside, would be able to exercise French rights. Even then, "originaires" were subject to customary and arbitrary law if they stepped outside the Four Communes. It was only through a protracted battle by Senegalese Deputy Blaise Diagne, and his help recruiting thousands of Africans to fight in World War I, that legal and voting rights were restored to even the "originaires" with the Loi Blaise Diagne of 29 September 1916.