The case files are identified under title C9.

The large number of cases—of which only a small part survives—clearly led the consular office to create a small separate archive under the heading “Expulsions”.

The surviving files in effect constitute a sample of a much larger body of files.

Expulsions, although numerous in Egypt, are not explicitly provided for either by the Consular Law or by implementing regulations (see G. PELISSIE DU RAUSAS, Le régime des capitulations dans l’Empire ottoman, I, Paris 1902, p. 255-260); nevertheless they were widely used. They were carried out by consular decree, understood as a mere administrative act—a security measure—directed against prostitutes, vagabonds, persons unwelcome to local authorities, or persons whose “morality” was considered questionable.