The Jews and the silver. A study on the conflicting demands of economic law and economic practice in 17th and 18th century Germany

The conflicting demands of economic law and economic practice in the early modern Holy Roman Empire have rarely been discussed in historic research. By investigating a legal dispute over some Jewish silver traders before the Imperial Aulic Council (Reichshofrat) in the years 1766-1768 the following article is able to show the deteriorating economic and social situation of Jews since the 17th century. It is furthermore possible to provide some conclusions about the influence of law within the conflicting fields of economy, territory and Empire. Thus it can reveal some aspects of the constitutional and Weberian institutionalized state's (Anstaltsstaat) development under mercantilistic terms, which ranked economic practice and the law of the Empire on roughly the same pre-modern level. Abstract printed by permission of Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany