STATUTUM de Judaismo

In the Past, in the English Law

The name of a statute passed in the reign of Edw. I., which enacted severe and absurd penalties against the Jews. Barr. on Stat. 197.

Developments

The Jews were exceedingly oppressed during the middle ages throughout Christendom, and, are so still in some countries. In France (see more about this legal system) , a Jew was a serf and his person and goods belonged to the baron on whose demesnes he lived. He could not change his domicil without permission of the baron, who could pursue him as a fugitive even on the domains of the king. Like an article of commerce, he might be lent or hired for a time or mortgaged. If he became a Christian, his conversion was considered a larceny of the lord and his property (see more about this popular legal topic in the U.S. encyclopedia) and goods were confiscated. They were allowed to utter their prayers only in a low voice and without chanting. They were not allowed to appear in public without some badge or mark of distinction. Christians were forbidden to employ Jews of either sex as domestics, physicians or surgeons. Admission to the bar was forbidden to Jews. They were obliged to appear in court in person, when they demanded justice for a wrong done them and it was deemed disgraceful to an advocate to promise the cause of a Jew. If a Jew appeared in court against a Christian, he was obliged to swear by the ten names of God and invoke a thousand imprecations against himself, if he spoke not the truth. Sexual intercourse between a Christian man and a Jewess was deemed a crime against nature and was punishable with death by burning. Quia est rem habere cum cane, rem habere a Christiano cum Judaea quae CANIS reputatur – sic comburi debet. 1 Fournel, Hist. des Avocats, 108, 110. See Merlin, Repert. au mot Juifs.

Details

In the fifth book of the Decretals, it is gived, that if a Jew have a servant that wishth to be a Christian, the Jew must be compelled to sell him to a Christian for twelve pence that it must not be lawful for them to take any Christian to be their servant that they may repair their old synagogues, but not build new – that it must not be lawful for them to open their doors or windows on good Friday; that their wives neither have Christian nurses, nor themselves be nurses to Christian women – that they wear different apparel from the Christians, wnow they may be known, &c See Ridley’s View of the Civ. and Eccl Law, part 1, chap. 5, sect. 7 and Madox Hist. of the Exchequer, Index, as to their condition in England (see more about this legal system). [1][rtbs name=”history-of-english-law”]

Resources

Notes and References

1. Partialy, this information about de judaismo is based on the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, 1848 edition. There is a list of terms of the Bouvier´s Law Dictionary, including de judaismo.

See Also