Page "Leibzoll" Paragraph 3

The adoption of this policy was dictated by absolute necessity.

Owing to the weakness of the imperial power of the Holy Roman Empire, Jews expelled from a place could easily settle in the vicinity, and on the strength of their passports do business in the place from which they had been expelled.

So the Jews expelled from Nuremberg in 1499 settled in Fürth ; those expelled from Nördlingen ( 1507 ) settled in Kleinerdlingen ; those who could not gain entrance into the city of Lübeck settled in the village of Moisling — all places of settlement within easy walking distance of the cities in which they were denied residence.

On the passports issued to them by their respective sovereigns they could engage in trade in the latter places, at least during the day, and, therefore, since the local governments wished to enforce the decrees excluding the Jews, they were driven to adopt new measures (" R. E.

J.

" viii.

212 ).

Administrators soon recognized the financial utility of the Leibzoll, and the territorial rulers in the German empire levied such a toll from all traveling Jews, whether foreigners or their own subjects.

In Nuremberg the average annual value of the toll for the last ten years during which Leibzoll was levied ( 1797 – 1806 ) was 2, 448 florins ( Barbeck, " Gesch.

der Juden in Nürnberg und Fürth ," p. 106, Nuremberg, 1878 ).