Edikt ueber die Verhaeltnisse der juedischen Glaubensgenossen im Koenigreiche Baiern (In: Koeniglich-Baierisches Regierungsblatt, Vol. 39 cols. 921-32.) Complete volume: p. (1), cols. 5-1664 + pp. (80).

Grants Jews Bavarian citizenship and access to hitherto closed professions (intended to reduce the number of Jews traditionally engaged in trading and peddling) - however, at the same time the number of Jewish residents was restricted. This 1813 edict for the Jews of Bavaria was issued by the King Maximilian I (1756-1825) on 10th June 1813 and published in the Koeniglich-Baierisches Regierungsblatt, the official Bavarian government bulletin. Second to Prussia, Bavaria had at the time the second largest Jewish population in German-speaking countries. The edict contains thirty-four paragraphs regulating residence, marriage rights, trade, religion and education. It also created the legal basis for the formation of congregations, places of worship and cemeteries. Points of note: Only Jews registered in a Juden-Matrikel (a list of Jewish residents maintained by each Jewish community) may acquire citizenship (§ 1). It is necessary to choose a German family name and to swear a citizenship oath (untertaneneid). Immigration is forbidden (§ 11) and the number of permitted Jewish families should not increase, but rather decrease (§ 12). Jews may purchase houses and fields for their own use (§ 16). They may set up manufacturing and fabric companies (§ 18). The edict hindered the growth of Jewish communities in Bavaria, for an available Matrikelstelle was the key to acquiring residence, marriage and trade rights, which often required a years-long wait for a spot on the list, unless one could acquire such through marriage or financial arrangements. This regulation was one of the main reasons for the increasing emigration of young Bavarian Jews in the mid-19th century, especially to North America and Great Britain. Jews in Bavaria gained full political and civil equality only with the introduction of the Reichsgesetz on 22nd April 1871, which also included laws on home, marriage and residence and residence rights.