[Land/State]-Ordinance for the Principality of Opole and Raciborz (‘Ratibor’); 54. Regarding the Jews [Present-day Poland; Principality of Opole and Raciborz]: “1) No Lord, or prelate, or knightly man may occupy/settle Jews in [their] villages or cities or accept them without the gracious permission of his royal majesty. 2) Jews may not loan money to any Lord, prelate, or knightly men, or other subjects for the purpose of usury without the explicit permission of the Landlord* (‘Grundherrn’). 3) However, should a Jew loan a subject money without the permission of his Lord, he shall lose the entire sum of the loan, and the peasant/farmer or the subject shall forfeit the sum which he received from a Jew to his Lord. 4) And the Jew shall not take more than two small Heller [currency] per week for each Mark; should he, however, charge/take more [in interest], he shall lose the principal entirely and the peasant shall also forfeit everything he’s gotten from the Jew to his Lord. 5) Jews may not purchase anything stolen; however, should another seek and find something in the possession of a Jew that belongs to him (which he has lost), that Jew shall report and name the seller from whom he received the item, but nonetheless [he must] turn in the stolen item to the authorities. However, if the seller is not made public by name [to the authorities], he, who recognizes something that belongs to him in the possession of a Jew, and can prove it, shall be given the item back without restitution.” [Researcher’s note: *Landlord is used here in its original sense, meaning lord over a piece of land.]
Zur Geschichte der Juden in Böhmen, Mähren und Schlesien von 906 bis 1620. Herausgegeben von Gottlieb Bondy, em. Präsidenten der Handels- und Gewerbekammer in Prag. Zur Herausgabe vorbereitet und ergänzt von Franz Dworsky, em. Director des Landesarchivs des Königreiches Böhmens. I. 906 bis 1576. (Prag; 1906); (Regarding the history of Jews in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia from 906 to 1620. Published by Gottlieb Bondy, fo[rmer] President of the Trade and Commerce and Industry in Prague. Prepared for publication and supplemented by Franz Dworsky, fo[rmer] Director of the National Archives of the Kingdom of Bohemia. I. 906 to 1576.); (Prague; 1906); Researched and Translated by Ziba Shadjaani 7/8/2019