Infamous Decree

On March 17, 1808, French Emperor Napoleon I made three decrees^[1] in an attempt to promote the equality of Jews and integrate them into French society, building on the Jewish Emancipation of 1790–1791. The Infamous Decree, the third of the three decrees, had some adverse effects. Although its aim was to grant equal citizenship, it restricted Jewish money lending (Catholics were not permitted to commit acts of usury, that is, the charging of interest as profit on loans), annulled all debts owed to Jews by married women, minors, and soldiers, voided any loan that had interest rates exceeding 10 percent, and limited the residency of new Jewish peoples in France by restricting their business activities, while allowing work in agriculture and craftsmanship. The combination of these decrees severely weakened the financial position of once dominant rural French money lending Jews.^[2]

The decree applied only to Jews in eastern France; those "established in Bordeaux and in the departments of the Gironde and the Landes, having given rise to no complaints and not involved in illicit traffic", were not affected, nor were those living in Paris.^[3]