Bulletin Des Lois de L'empire Francais, 4e Serie [Laws of the French Empire, Series no. 4]. Volumes no. 4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 14 and 19. Paris, 1806-1814. French.
More than 200 booklets with laws and regulations of the French Empire under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, bound in seven volumes. The booklets have regulations and laws related to French Jews which illuminate Napoleon's attitude towards the Jews. Among the regulations concerning the Jews, you can find the following:
*Regulation from March 1808 (Booklet no. 186), restricting trade and loans by Jews for a period of ten years. The regulation determines that debts which soldiers, minors and married women owe Jews shall be canceled as well as all the loans granted by Jews with interest over ten percent. Also, Jews are forbidden to move to another residence or to live in certain areas in France unless they purchase land for agriculture and commit themselves not to deal in trade. This regulation was part of Napoleon's attempts to wipe out Jewish businesses of lending with interest and to encourage Jews to deal in crafts or agriculture. This was in order to allegedly promote equality between Jews and the other French citizens.
*Regulation from July 1808 (Booklet no. 198), which determines that all Jews must adopt last names (until then French Jews did not have permanent last names). The regulation prohibited Jews to adopt names from the Old Testament or of the family's city of residence.
*Regulation from February 1811 (Booklet no. 351), grants full French citizenship to all Jews living in Livorno who are part of the Jewish community as of the publication of the regulation.
Other regulation concerning French Jews appear in Booklets no. 94, 140, 187, 197, 206, 207, 210, 315, 351, 549.
Seven volumes, approximately 21 cm. Overall good condition. Stains. Moth holes to one volume. The booklets which compose Vol. 19 are not bound. Some title pages have ink inscriptions.