(This Act may be taken as a specimen of Alien Laws
in European countries.)

(Translation.)

LAW ON FOREIGNERS AND TRAVELLERS.

We, Christian IX., &c., make known the Rigsdag has passed, and we with our approval confirm, the following Law:—

1. Passports abolished, but may be required of inhabitants of countries in which Danish travellers are obliged to be furnished with them.

Residence in the country forbidden to foreign gipsies, musicians, exhibitors of animals, &c., acrobats and conjurers, and such like persons, gaining their livelihood by wandering about. Entry into the country forbidden also to all foreigners in search of work, unless they are provided with a document of identity from a public functionary.

2. Foreigners who are not possessed of any claim for maintenance in this country, and are destitute of the necessary means of subsistence, as well as those who, under the provisions of Article 1, are not allowed to settle in the country, shall be as soon as possible sent out of it, or turned out of it by the police. In connection herewith an injunction can be given by police certificate to the party concerned not to allow himself to be found again in the country, with a notification of his liability under Article 22 if he violates the order.

3. Foreigners not in possession of right of maintenance in the country, who seek to support themselves by manual or other bodily labour, either as servants or, without legalizing themselves as travelling artisans, by any species of work necessitating journies from place to place, have to announce themselves to the Chief of the Police in whose jurisdiction they arrive, or as soon afterwards as they set about seeking such means of existence, to the Chief of the Police in whose jurisdiction they are resident at the time.

4. The Chief of the Police to whom application is made under the preceding Article, shall investigate whether the party is in a condition in which it can be reasonably expected that he can and will support himself in this country by lawful labour; he must in this connection look carefully into the accuracy of the documents of identity which the applicant exhibits; and also exact assurance that the applicant is either guaranteed work or service, or is in possession of sufficient means to provide himself with subsistence on a modest scale for eight days, and afterwards to leave the country.

Should the Chief of Police, after this examination, find that extended residence can be conceded to the applicant, he shall provide him with a residence-book, prescribed by the instructions of, and at the price fixed by, the Ministry of Justice, in the drawing up of which book provision is made for the certifying of the documents of identity; in the contrary event care must be taken to send or remove the applicant out of the country.

The foregoing provisions are also to be applied to all foreigners mentioned in Article 3, who, at the period when the present Law comes into operation, are found resident in the country without having procured means of subsistence, an allowance of one month being made to them in which to notify themselves to the Chief of Police in the place of their residence. Should they be provided with a journey-book, mark shooting-book, or other document of identity, they receive a residence-book, delivered at the cost of the police fund, in which the certificate of their documents of identity are set forth. In the residence-book it is notified that it is given in place of the former document of identity, which the applicant must nevertheless preserve, and produce when required to do so.

5. Any one in possession of a residence-book who shall wish to leave the police jurisdiction in which he resides, shall notify his intention to the police of the place, with a statement of the extent of his journey. The police shall make inquiry how far the applicant is in possession of the necessary means to arrive at the place indicated, and how far he is assured either of work or of subsistence, or, in the contrary case, whether he is provided with the means of modest subsistence for eight days after his arrival. If the applicant cannot guarantee the aforesaid, he can be sent or removed out of the country. Should no ground be found for his removal, notification of his announcement shall be certified in his book, and also leave for his journey, granted by the Chief of Police in accordance with the indicated wishes of the applicant; and further, a general sketch of the route by which the journey shall be made, and of the time in which it is to be accomplished, which arrangements must not be altered without sufficient ground, except by leave of the police.

6. On arrival at destination, as also when the individual concerned, during his journey, passes the night at any market town, or in Frederiksborg, FrederiksvÆrk, Sikheborg, NÖrresundby, and LÖgstÖr, or remains in any country place for more than twenty-four hours, the residence-book must be exhibited to the police, who shall certify such exhibition in the book itself.

7. The holder of the book, when he has not found work or subsistence for eight days after he last notified the police, is bound to notify himself anew to the police of the place in which he happens to be, and can then, if not in possession of the means of modest subsistence for eight days, be expelled or sent out of the country.

He who has had no work for six weeks shall in all cases be sent or removed from the country, unless he can prove how during that period he has supported himself in a lawful manner.

8. Every one who engages a foreigner to work must see that the latter is provided with a residence-book. When the foreigner quits his employment he (the employer) must certify in the book how long the employment has lasted. In case of his refusal, the holder of the book shall at once notify the police, who shall insert in the book the necessary certificate.

Any conviction for offence must be certified in the book. The individual concerned can apply for a new book without such certificate if during the last five years he has not been convicted of any offence.

9. In all cases treated in Articles 5 to 8 the party concerned, should he at the period at which the notification should be made, not find himself in the parish or market town where the Chief of Police resides, may address himself to the local constable. The latter shall, in the stead of the Chief, pursue the necessary inquiry, and should the book be found in order, and the applicant fulfil the further conditions for continued residence in the country, he (the constable) shall insert the necessary certificate in the book; in the contrary case, he must refer the applicant to the Chief of Police, to whom the book must at once be remitted. Should the certificates which the said functionary notifies require an injunction in a formal Protocol, the costs are to be charged to the police account.

In coast districts, so far as the present Law is concerned, the district Commissioners shall act in place of the Constables.

10. The dispositions of Articles 5 to 9 do not apply where the parties have continuous service, or only leave one employment to enter at once upon another. As long as such is the case the residence-book serves as a mark-book, and the conditions to be observed remain valid during the service.

The notice of servants' arrival and departure, which, by the Law of the 10th May, 1854, paragraph 60, were to be made to the parish priest, shall for the future be made to the constable, who shall certify in the book the notices given, and report the same in the Protocol as above.

11. Should the book be lost, notice must at once be given to the police. Should nothing appear, either from the information given by the owner or from any other source, of a nature to excite suspicion that the book has been purposely made away with, a new one shall be supplied, in which shall be recorded such information as to his previous residence in the country as can be procured without prolonged inquiry. In the contrary event, the party shall at once be sent out of or removed from the country, with such injunctions as are required by Articles 1 and 2.

12. The obligation to be provided with a residence-book exists also where the party gains his livelihood in this country, and he, moreover, is regarded as a native-born subject for the purposes of this Law. The party concerned can claim a book furnished with a certificate of his observance of this obligation.

13. He who has no rights as a native-born subject, and has not any claim to maintenance in this country, can, if he has not had continuous residence in this country for two years, be sent or removed out of it, by order of the Minister of Justice, when his conduct gives occasion therefor.

In the case of removal or expulsion, in respect of which the Minister of Justice can designate the modifications prescribed in Article 16, which, in the circumstances, may be found suitable, such injunction can be given by order of the Minister as is set forth in Article 2.

14. When, under the provisions of this Law, residence is refused to any one, the said person is to remain under the observation and surveillance of the police until sent out of the country.

15. All certificates mentioned in the preceding paragraphs shall be given gratuitously, except those for leaving a commune mentioned in Article 10, second portion, which shall be taxed at 25 ore each. For the payment of the certifying of journey-books is granted a sum in compensation out of the Treasury chest, calculated on the average of the receipts on this account during the last five years.

16. In all cases named in this Law removal from the country shall be effected under police direction, and in the cheapest manner compatible with the circumstances, by railway, waggon, by sea, or on foot, so that hired conveyance is only used in rare exceptions.

Removal shall be effected without escort by a compulsory pass from the Chief of Police, so that the party, by means of conveyance as aforesaid, and as far as possible under control, shall be sent direct out of the country. The pass shall contain the necessary details of the route, the police authorities to whom the bearer shall present himself, as well as the amount given for subsistence money. Only when the means of conveyance aforesaid fail can the party be permitted to depart, and the Chief of Police shall appoint in the pass a period in which the journey must be completed; but such freedom of travel shall not be conceded to persons who have been convicted of vagrancy or mendicancy.

When a person is sent by one authority to another by such a pass, the documents of identity are to be sent after him; and if he departs by rail or by sea, due notice of his coming must be given by telegraph to the police at the place of his destination.

In the event of any such removals, care must be taken that the party is provided with the necessary clothing; that he is not suffering from itch or any other contagious disease, and also that his state of health is not such as to prevent the removal being carried out.

17. The expenses incurred in removals in virtue of this Law, as also the expenses of maintenance and lodging until departure, and of clothing and watching in cases provided by Article 13, are to be paid out of the Treasury chest, and the expenses of those falling under Article 1, who are not permitted to reside in the country, are to be paid by themselves so far as they have the means. In all other cases, the expenses, including subsistence money, are to be paid by the communal funds of the locality, according to the specially given injunctions, but may be advanced by the police chest of any place. The Chief of Police from whose jurisdiction any one is removed as aforesaid, must take care that any expenses incurred thereby in another jurisdiction, are immediately settled.

18. The right conceded to itinerant workmen to seek for the ordinary assistance given by Guilds and Corporations is abolished.

19. He who, for payment, lets out to any one lodgings either by the day or by the week, or who gratuitously houses unknown or vagrant personages, is bound to inquire of such information as to their name, position, and last place of sojourn. The statements received must, in Copenhagen and in all market towns, including Frederiksborg, FrederiksvÆrk, Sikheborg, NÖrresundby, and LÖgstÖr, be communicated before noon on the morrow in writing to the police, and elsewhere within twenty-four hours to the constable, and in coast districts to the Commissary, accompanied according to circumstances with observations as to any ground which may appear for doubting the accuracy of the statements made.

The police can require all keepers of hotels, inns, and lodging-houses, and the waiters therein, instead of giving daily notice as above, to keep a book authorized by the police, which shall at any time be open to the inspection of the latter. With regard to such persons who, under Article 6, are obliged to announce themselves to the police, it is incumbent on all who shelter them to see that such announcements are duly made.

20. Every one is bound, when required by the police either on account of information given in virtue of the preceding paragraph or of other special circumstances, to prove further that he is the person whom he professes to be, or to adduce such information as to make this probable.

21. Every town and parish Council must see that twice a year lists are compiled by which every house proprietor shall show within eight days, exactly for every house the number of persons resident therein, as well as their names, occupation, age, and the date of their taking up residence in the commune. For residents in Copenhagen the Regulations in force hitherto remain valid.

22. Violations of the prescriptions of Articles 2, 11, and 13, are to be punished with imprisonment on bread and water for 6 × 5 [sic] days, or hard labour for 180 days.

Whoever, by false representations to the police, contrives that the residence-book furnished to him does not answer to his real name, or who wilfully tears out leaves therefrom, or makes use of documents of identity not his own, or who lends those given for his own use to another, or who deliberately makes false statements under Articles 19, 20, and 21, shall be punished, if no heavier sentence is provided by the law, with confinement on bread and water for 2 × 5 [sic] days, or with simple imprisonment for two months, or hard labour for sixty days, or under extenuating circumstances, with a fine of from 5 to 100 crowns.

Deviations from the route prescribed in a police pass, or neglect to accomplish the journey in the prescribed time, unless reasonable excuse can be alleged, are to be punished with imprisonment, of not more than five days on bread and water. (Vide Penal Law, section 25.)

Other violations of this Law to be punished with fines of from 2 to 50 crowns.

Prosecutions under this Law to be brought by the Public Prosecutor.

So soon as any sentence of fine imposed by this Law is read or communicated to the offender, shall the fine, when the sentence is undisputed, or the offender declares himself satisfied therewith, be at once exacted, paid, and in default of payment, without any appeal to the authorities, forthwith expiated in accordance with the prescriptions of the Law of the 16th February, 1866, upon the expiation of fines.

23. Certain Laws repugnant to the provisions of this Law are repealed.

24. This Law, which has no operation in the Faro Isles, shall come into force on the 1st July, 1875.

Dated at the Amelienborg, the 15th May, 1875.

(Signed) CHRISTIAN R.