MIGRATION LAW

This collection of historical and contemporary legal texts and commentary is the product of the ongoing work of our research staff at LERC. It should be seen as work-in-progress and combines original texts and secondary resources on topics as varied as Ottoman and French Mandate migration law, citizenship related migration legislation, and modern human rights protection mechanisms.

The original texts are largely out of print and thus open source. All more recent material can be freely used under the Creative Commons agreement applied to this section of our website. Users are encouraged to submit legal texts dealing with migration, refugees, migrant labor law, citizenship, relevant human rights legislation, gender and migration, and the like. There are no regional limitations, however most of the work done to date is focused on migration law in the Middle East, the greater Mediterranean Basin, and Central Europe.

Migration Law and Labor Resources

• Die gesetzliche Behandlung der Auslander in Osterreich nach den daselbst gultigen Civilrechts, von Puttlingen Johann Vesque, 1842. [Link]
  This overview of Austrian imperial migration policy is a unique example of the Central European “rule of law” mentality in the mid-19th century. It offers a detailed description of the logic, design, and implementation of a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional policy towards non-citizens at a time when Europe was just beginning to understand the need for comprehensive social planning. This survey was commissioned by Austrian Chancellor of State, Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, in order to provide more insight into Europe’s most culturally, economically, and socially diverse society. At the time Austria stretched from Milan in the south, to Prague in the north and included parts of modern day Ukraine, Romania, and Croatia.
  
  
• Bergbau in Südtirol : Von der Alttiroler Bergbautradition zur modernen italienischen Montanindustrie - eine Sozialgeschichte, Sensenig, Gene R., 1990.
  Mining has historically been one of the most labor intensive modern industries. Thus a social history of mining is simultaneously a history of labor migration. The Italian province of South Tyrol (Südtirol/Alto Adige) has been a center of high altitude Alpine metal mining for well over two millennia. This book provides the reader with an overview of the mining industry in the region as well as including chapters on the ecological impact of mining, the effects of heavy industry on the local economy and social structure of small towns and villages high in the Tyrolean Alps, ties to the international metal markets in Latin America, and the role of war economies in promoting industrial development.
  
  
• Rote Links: Sozialdemokratie in Salzburg 1900-2000 – Ein digitales Bilderbuch, Sensenig-Dabbous, Eugene, 2000.
  This CD-ROM is one of the first attempts to present the history of the labor movement in a purely digital format. It includes hundreds of pictures, as well and songs and videos related to the labor movement in the province of Salzburg, Austria. Throughout the 100 year period covered by this “digital picture book,” migration in the fields of mining, construction, transportation, and later tourism played an important role. Migrants were also important in spread the ideas of Social Democracy through the Alpine region. This pictorial exhibit can be largely understood without knowledge of German.

• French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 17, No. 3, Supplement: Official Documents (Jul., 1923), pp. 177-182. [Link]