The Legal Position of the Jews in pre-expulsion England, as shown by the Plea Rolls of the Jewish Exchequer

By Cyril M. Picciotto, M.A.

Ladies and Gentlemen,?Your President, Sir Lionel Abrahams, by asking me to undertake the examination of the Plea Rolls of the Jewish Exchequer, has, in effect, entrusted me with a heavy task, which is no less than to attempt to give a reasoned view of the legal position of the Jews in England prior to the expulsion. While I shall make all endeavour to avoid an undue technicality, it will yet be necessary, if such a mine of material is to be adequately worked, to refer not infrequently to legal institutions and conceptions of the period ; for it would be idle to attempt to answer the question, How did the legal position of the Jews compare with that of the Gentiles ? ?unless we can say with some accuracy what that of the Gentiles was. So that while I shall reduce technicalities to a minimum,

Written by

Cyril M. Picciotto

Published in

Volume 9

1918

Other articles within the volume

• THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND
• Tallies and Receipt Rolls
• Some Medieval Notes
• Racial Origins of Jewish Types. Presidential Address (1920)
• Perkin Warbeck and His Jewish Master
• Reflections on the History of the Anglo-Jewish Community. Presidential Address (1920)
• Hebrew Loyalty under the First Four Georges
• Ephraim Luzzatto (1729—1792)
• The Legal Position of the Jews in pre-expulsion England, as shown by the Plea Rolls of the Jewish Exchequer
• Special Taxation of the Jews
• Proposals for Special Taxation of the Jews after the Revolution. Presidential Address (1918)
• The Peace Banquet
• PREFACE.