The years from 1830 to 1848 constitute a turning point in the history of political asylum in France. During this period, for the first time ever, the political authorities were obliged to reflect on asylum and to establish a large-scale policy in order to cope with the arrival of almost 20,000 Polish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and German refugees. The impossibility of defining this section of the population in conformity with juridical criteria or with well established frontiers is clearly reflected in the dictionaries of the French language, in the debates in the parliamentary assemblies as well as in the legislation adopted and its inapplicability. In view of the absence of a definition of a refugee, could the asylum policy under the July Monarchy be perceived as if it were based on law? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to argue that what prevailed should rather be defined as charitable measures? This article aims at answering these questions and thereby understanding the nature of the principles that governed the treatment of refugees in France in this period.