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Auction: 339 - The Numismatic Collector's Series Sale at NY INC, Grand Hyatt
Lot: 2076

Judaica. Document proclaming the 1791 Law for the Jewish Emancipation in France, dated in Paris on November 13 1791, following a Decree of the National Assembly, two and a half years after the start of the Revolution and less than two years after the "Declaration of the Rights of Man". Document printed on both sides at the "Imprimerie Royale", stating the law concerning the Jews, published in the name of King Louis XVI, endorsed "Loi/Relative aux Juifs/Donné à Paris, lé 13 Novembre 1791", "Louis, par la grâce de Dieu & par la Loi constitutionnelle de l'Etat, Roi des François: A tous présens & à venir; Salut". The text of the document states the following translated contents: "The conditions required to be and become a French citizen are established by the Constitution, every man who fulfills its conditions takes the civic oath and undertakes to fulfill all the duties imposed by the constitution, and is entitled to all the advantages that it imposes"; "...abolishes all exceptions and restrictions concerning Jewish persons who have worn the civic oath". This very significant historic law, also implemented under Napoleonic rule in French occupied and annexed territories, permitted the Jews to leave the ghettos and be assimilated as citizens within society, with the consequence of contributing to a Jewish enlightenment. Five hundred years after Poland, France was the second country to grant emancipation to the Jews; considering the importance of France at that time and in the upcoming Napoleonic years, the consequences of this law were much more significant and had an international involvement. Some peripheral soiling not detracting. A highly important and rare document which granted all Jews equality of citizenship in France, with this law becoming then a model for other European Jewish communities.

Sold for
$1,200